The Necklace
by TwistedKat
Summary: It all started with the first's necklace
1. Chapter 1

A/N – sorry I've taken so long with this when I told you all ages ago I'd have a new Naruto story up

_A/N – sorry I've taken so long with this when I told you all ages ago I'd have a new Naruto story up. Uni's been a bit hectic, especially as I changed class so yea.__ I also want to thank everyone for their support on my story 'Who Knew?' – sorry I didn't get back to you all! I had considered doing a continuation of other story, but I couldn't have been bothered lol. That and there's very little fics with this couple and I like this couple shrugs Slightly AU as Naruto is 17._

_Anyways, I'm just babbling here. Enjoy the story!_

**The Necklace**** intro**

I watched the first's necklace sway as the young ninja pulled off his top to begin his new training. Manipulating his wind chakra is going to take a lot out of him, and myself. Containing the kyubbi's chakra is not easy. I don't know how he has managed for all these years. Yes, he has lost control before. Seeing the fourth tail appear was an eye opener for me. I had no idea the demon fox's power would take such a toll on Naruto's body. Seeing the skin flake from his body was beyond disturbing. And it was all for that damned Uchiha brat. He was truly giving his all to get past Orichimaru. I guess being so close to Sasuke was driving the poor boy insane. What got to me most wasn't the change. Oh no, not that. Disturbing as it was, that's not what got me. It was when he was flung back over to my original body. It wasn't the fox I saw then. All I saw was pain. As he sat there, pinned to the rock, I saw all the pain he'd been put through. When he howled, I felt like my soul had been ripped in pieces and my heart broke for him. I wanted so badly to do as Sakura had done. I wanted to run to him and hold him. I knew I couldn't. I knew what had happened, but I didn't dare stop her. I needed it to happen. I needed a reason to convince Naruto to use his own strength – to show people what _he_ can do.

I watch the necklace fall against his chest and remember pressing my palm there, sealing the kyubbi. I remember feeling his blood stain my hand. I remembered Jirya explaining the kyubbi's chakra being made up of his blood, but I never expected that. I never expected his skin to have been stripped from him. I never even considered the agony the blonde would be in. And I will never forget that day for as long as I live. Even after that, he still refused to give in. He still went after Sasuke. He still made sure that Sai – and on some level, myself – understood this mission would never be abandoned. Even as he lay on the floor, exhausting and bleeding, after feeling the power of a full body chidori, he still swore he'd catch up to Sasuke.

I raise my eyes from the hypnotic crystal and gasp at the cheeky grin being sent my way. I have no idea how long I've sat staring at that necklace. No wonder he noticed. Sometimes I'm very, very glad I scare the crap outta the blonde. So why can't I bring myself to meet his gaze? I compose my features and look up. Oh yea, that's why. I can already feel my steely façade fade and my brain turn to mush. Those beautiful azure eyes burn into my very soul and I feel my heart skip a beat. I pray he doesn't try to speak to me. Coherent speech tends to fail me at moments like this. I watch as his lips begin to move. Crap.

"Ready to go Captain Yamato?"

"Bwuh?"

Smooth, Yamato, very smooth. I hear him laugh and put on my 'must scare Naruto' face. He quickly backs off. Then trips. Over a sleeping Kakashi. Ah, perfect. Although I do feel a little bad as I watch Kakashi trying his best to knock Naruto out with the newest edition of Ichi ichi paradise I can't help but laugh. I don't really know when it started, but I've felt myself being drawn towards the young golden haired ninja. I know it became more profound on that day. I said I had wanted to run to him. It was more like I _needed _to run to him. I needed to take away that pain. I needed to see bright blue eyes sparkling and hear that throaty laugh. I was actually terrified that he'd be completely different when I sealed the kyubbi's chakra. I hear myself sigh. I have been trying to put off admitting it haven't I? I guess it's about time I admit it, even if it's only to myself.

I, Yamato, am in love the golden haired, blue eyed ninja, Naruto Uzamaki.


	2. Naruto and the Ramen Hunt

_A/N – Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Yamato. Damn._

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**Naruto and the Ramen Hunt**

"Eh?! What do you mean closed?!" This exclamation could be heard ringing through the streets of Konoha as Naruto stared in disbelief at the closed sign hanging at Ichiraku Ramen Bar. _'I've been training all day, how dare they be closed!' _he thought angrily as he continued to stare at the offensive 'Closed' sign. He wandered around the stall seeing if there was any sign of Teuchi or Ayame but had no luck. '_The chances that this is nothing more than a stupid joke are looking slimmer and slimmer. What will our poor golden haired hero do?' _Naruto laughs slightly at his own thoughts, but his grin dies as he once again faces the 'Closed sign of Doom'. He wasn't sure what to do. Huffing at the sign didn't work - neither did sticking out his tongue, poking it, cursing at it or giving it the finger. Upon the last gesture he heard someone clearing their throat behind him. _'Please let that be Teuchi.' _He turned and gulped,

"Captain Yamato!"

Yamato had been trying to catch up with the younger ninja since he had sped from the training grounds declaring that ramen was the most important part of a ninja's training. _'Naruto has far too much bloody energy', _he thought, _'Not that I don't, mind you. I only fainted earlier because of the heat!' _He nodded enthusiastically at his own thought, then sighed and shook it as he watched Naruto circle the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. Watching and listening to the blonde prod and swear at the 'Closed' sign was quite funny, but people were starting to give him odd looks. Yamato sighed and made his way over Naruto; just in time to see him give the 'Closed' sign the middle finger. He had to stifle a laugh and cleared his throat. He tried not to grin as the younger man slowly turned and visibly gulp.

"Captain Yamato!" He couldn't help it. He really couldn't. He knew the giant grin plastered across his face could scare small children from a mile away, but he had to as he listened to the golden haired ninja attempt to babble some lame excuse as to why he was giving a 'Closed' sign the middle finger. Watching those brilliant cerulean orbs widen more and more with each new excuse wasn't helping our dear captain either.

Naruto stopped half way through his tenth excuse when something finally dawned on him. Captain Yamato – creepy grin aside – must have something very important to tell him; otherwise he wouldn't have forgotten his shirt. He felt he ought to point this out to his captain, _'but what would be the fun in that?' _he thought as a creepy grin that could rival Yamato's crept across his face. Said captain obviously noticed this change as his grin faltered slightly.

"Warm day today, isn't it Captain?" the blonde asked, still grinning insanely. The drooling made it look slightly worse, but that was the least of Naruto's problem. His biggest problem at this moment in time was that he had a topless Yamato and that they were in public. So, of course, the only course of action was to embarrass him horribly. He looked expectantly at his sensei to reply, but was met with a strangely blank stare.

"Um, captain?" _'Damn, did I say my thoughts aloud again?' _he wondered as he watched his captain turn to glare at some sniggering young girls then turn back and give him an odd look.

"Naruto, we are discussing why you were swearing at that sign and… is it just me or is it a little cold?" At this comment, Naruto dissolved into a fit of laughter, much to the captain's dismay.

Yamato simply continued to stare at his team mate who was lying on the ground beginning to convulse due to hysterical laughing. He had already been concerned at the fact that people were staring at them like the had lost there minds, and random girls giggling at him, but now people were making very sure to avoid them while a small crowd began to form at the building across the street. That was not good. _'What the hell is he laughing at? I mean really, what could be that funny?'_

"Naruto, I demand to know what is so funny! Have you any idea how ridiculous you look?" He was met with yet another shriek of laughter.

"Ridiculous" Naruto wheezed, "a little" more giggling, "cold" much more wheezing and laughing, "_I_ look ridiculous" more laughter.

Yamato frowned. _'Why would me asking if it was a little cold be so funny? And that remark about me commenting on him looking ridiculous sounded slightly sarcastic. Hmmm' _At this point, Yamato decided to look at himself. _'Aw fuck'. _Finally noticing that he had forgotten to lift his shirt, things seemed to be falling into place. Giggling girls, people watching a topless man grinning insanely at a younger male, Kakashi laughing as he rushed off, and the dreamy look that had been on Naruto's face and… _'The dreamy look on Naruto's face? I had to have imaged that. I can hardly imagine Naruto staring at me and drooling. Damn my mind'. _He heard another wheeze and looked down to see a flustered Naruto gazing up at him.

"Finally realised huh?" Yamato blushed a wonderful shade of red.

"I'll be right back". He disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto was given a few moments to contemplate what he could have done with a topless Yamato had they been in private before the captain returned. Naruto had known for quite some time he wasn't interested in girls. He kept up the charade with Sakura mainly for old time's sake. The pink haired girl knew he was gay. _'Hell, she was the one who helped me through it. It's bad enough that I'm supposed to be a horrible demon.' _He quickly cut that thought off. Sakura had threatened to beat him if he ever compared himself to a monster again. The fact that she'd be whacking him over the head while saying this really drove the point home. He was glad he had a friend like Sakura. Although her and Ino constantly trying to set him up with Sai was getting a little out of hand. That and their odd sense of fashion sense: he'd spent the day in hot pink belly top and black hot pants. That was a little awkward to explain to Kakashi who had "come to the rescue" upon hearing distressed sounds coming from Naruto's apartment. _'The old silver haired bastard probably fucking knew what was going on' _he thought as he scratched the back of his head, _'although why he'd want to see me in a belly top and hot pants I really don't know.' _He chuckled slightly to himself as he remembers the silver haired ninja falling back out the window, a stream of blood going with him. Apart from teasing Kakashi by suggesting he should wear something like Sai, he had begun to notice his replacement captain. At first, he'd been so caught up in wanting to butcher Sai horribly; he hadn't truly taken the time to get to know Kakashi's replacement. All he knew was that Yamato scared the hell out of him. So it wasn't until after the forth tail incident that he began to realise just what a brilliant ninja Yamato was. Of course, if it wasn't for the necklace, he wouldn't have been able to seal Kyuubi's power, but that's not what mattered. Even after he'd knocked Sakura out, Yamato still held his ground and stopped the demon.

A sudden puff of smoke pulled Naruto out of his thoughts with a yelp. Yamato had appeared back – right in front of him – donning his usual blue shirt. Naruto quickly bounced up from were he had fallen on his arse and glared at the grinning jounin.

"Oi! Watch were ya bloody do that! Ya could've killed me!" Naruto shouted, waving his arms wildly and all in all causing a wonderful scene. Yamato on the other hand had slowly backed away from the fuming blonde and was aware of yet another crowd appearing behind them. He sighed, _'People are too damn nosey for their own good'. _

"Naruto, if you're quite done fuming perhaps we should go elsewhere."

Naruto stopped mid curse and looked around before grinning sheepishly, "Yea, I think we've caused enough trouble today".

Yamato choked, "WE? What do you mean, WE?"

Naruto laughed and tried his best to block out the images from earlier. "By WE I mean my cursing at a 'Closed' sign, you being topless, me laughing manically, you're disappearing and reappearing act, and my shouting. That's what I mean by we."

Yamato stopped to think about this. "At least you realise it's mostly your fault" he told the once again fuming blonde. He chuckled slightly. "And why exactly didn't you just tell me I had forgotten my top?"

Naruto froze. He hadn't really thought Yamato would ask him that. _'Shit! What do I say? Say I thought he looked far too hot to put his top back on? Tell him public nudity is hilarious? Tell him he's got a great arse? Argh! I need to distract him.' _Naruto quickly darted his eyes about trying to find something to talk about as they made their way back towards the training grounds. _'Ah ha!'_

"Captain Yamato, why are we heading back to the training grounds?" _'Ah Naruto, you sly old fox' _he mentally cringed at calling him a fox.

"Because there is food there Naruto" he replied monotonously, "I picked some up after getting my top. Now, if you'd please answer my question" He smirked knowing the younger blonde was getting flustered.

"Uh…" _'Smooth Naruto, smooth.' _He couldn't think of how to answer or what to say. Yamato spun and glared that creepy, terrifying glare. _'Shit.' _"I, uh…"

"Yes Naruto?" Yamato tried not to laugh. He could feel the grin creep across his face. Naruto's look of panic of quite funny, and that blush… _'Is he? He is! He's blushing!' _Yamato felt his gut twist and quietly reminded himself that he was not allowed to jump Naruto, no matter how much he wanted to.

"I, uh…" Naruto knew he was blushing. That insane grin and frightening glare was slightly off putting. "Uh… Because you're top is dirty?"

Yamato's mind did a double take. _'Dirty?' _He looked down, inspecting his pristine – but slightly sweat drenched – top. He looked up to once again question just what the golden haired ninja just what he was talking about when said ninja had already began stuffing his face. He sat down and sighed, resigning himself to think about what scene he thought would be perfectly fitting to use the word dirty in. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a pink haired girl and a raven haired ex- anbu. He watched in horror as Sakura pushed Sai towards Naruto and winked. _'That can not be good'._

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_A/n – Yes, I know isn't overly funny. Tune in next time for the grand setup! How will Yamato take it?_


	3. The Set Up pt1

_A/N – I'm trying my best to update this weekly. Trying my best doesn't really mean that it'll happen lol. _

_Thanks to those who have reviewed!:-_

_BetahimeTsukiko_

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_Celestial kitty16_

**The Set up** – Part 1

**Yamato's POV**

I watched in horror as Sakura and Ino continued to nudge Sai closer to Naruto. Naruto set down his fourth cup of ramen – half finished – when Sai sat down beside him. I pretended to go do some exercises for the next stage of Naruto's training, to avoid this wonderfully awkward moment. The blonde is watching expectantly as Sai repeatedly opens and closes his mouth; his face growing a darker shade of red with each failed attempt to start a conversation. I would have found the raven haired intruders fish impression funny, if the situation wasn't so serious. _'No no nonononono! Don't let the she-devil's win!' _I was more than aware this was not the first time the 'she-devil's' had tried to set Naruto and Sai up, but this was the closest they had got so far. Five minutes with no insults thrown and both were still alive. _'Does this mean Naruto's actually considering it? Shit!' _I contemplate ruining the moment. Then contemplate what Sakura would do to me if I did. I could play the innocent 'I had no idea' card, but Sakura knew something. She had commented a few times about me staring at Naruto. I also discovered she was immune to fear. That does not bode well for me at all.

I watch as Naruto quickly glances over Sai as the raven haired ninja finally began to prattle about something he'd read in a book. Naruto frowned slightly. "Was there something you wanted to ask me Sai?"

Sai, seems startled by Naruto's sudden entrance to the conversation – but of course would never show it – smiled slightly. "Well, Naruto-kun, as I was saying, I read in a book that –

Naruto quickly cut him off, "Skip to the end"

I try not to laugh. Laughing meant they'd know I'm eaves dropping. Sai just smiled again.

"Very well; Naruto-kun, would you like to go on a date with me?"

"Sure"

I had to do a double take. _'Did he just agree to go on a date with Sai?' _My fear was confirmed by two high pitched squeals. _'Damn she-devils'. _I've decided this would definitely be a good time to interrupt. I make my way back over to the group and brandished a smile for the two still squealing girls. Although I am mildly disturbed about how much closer Sai had moved towards Naruto since I had left, I quickly brush it off and address the two women. "Did I miss something?"

Both Ino and Sakura grinned up at me – although Sakura's smile was oddly frightening and carried a promise of pain – whereas the boys looked slightly embarrassed. I should be paying more attention to the nature of the pink haired girls odd smile, but I was too busy plotting how to save – yes 'save' – Naruto from the clutches of the she-devils and their raven haired man stealer. _'Technically he's not mine, but he damn well should be!'_ Being able to smile through these thoughts is a feat I am proud of.

"Oh, captain Yamato! It's fantastic! Sai and Naruto are-

Ino was cut off by both boys protesting, "Ino!"

I shift my gaze to the two ninja and cock an eyebrow. "You two are what?" I grin as I watch Sai sweat and Naruto choke on some ramen. Naruto, of course, was the only one who answered me.

"It's nothing captain Yamato. Sai just asked me to help him out with something."

I couldn't help but frown. _'Why would Naruto lie? We all know that he is gay, so it'd be natural to go on a date.' _Both boys seemed to have frozen at my look. I quickly clear my throat. "I hope you two aren't going to get into any trouble, because I won't be bailing you out this time". Last time Naruto and Sai decided to 'bury the hatchet' I had ended up having to save them both from Tsunades wrath. Apparently, their way of making up involved playing a prank on the hokage. She was not amused. Then again, I wouldn't be amused about coming out of the bath covered in blue paint.

Both had the decency to look ashamed. That last stunt had cost them a months worth of trash duty. I doubt either of them wants to go through that again. Needless to say, they had both gone back to each others throats. This time, Sai spoke up. "No captain, we do not plan on getting into trouble. We are going out in a date."

I raise both eyebrows at that as Naruto whacked the paler boy on the back of the head. "Sai!" I am quite surprised by both of them; Sai for being so straight forward about it, and Naruto for trying to hide it. _'What the hell is going on? Did I fall through the looking glass? They're looking at me. I should probably respond.' _"Well, that's good", _'well done Yamato', _"but still, try not to get into trouble."

I see Naruto let out a sigh of relief, while Sai looked at him obviously a little confused. "What did you hit me for?" I felt a little spring of hope pop up. _'Sai's pissed off. That usually leads to Sai insulting Naruto. That leads to Naruto getting pissed off. It's a beautiful cycle.'_

"I'm sorry Sai, it was kind of, well, automatic", Naruto grinned sheepishly at the huffing ninja, who in return smiled back. _'Well, there goes that shred of hope.' _I thought, still trying my best to portray an air of indifference. Sakura's glare let me know that it wasn't working very well. I decide now would be a good time to leave. I only manage to get about a hundred yards away when the scary pink haired female catches up.

"Captain Yamato, could I talk to you about something?"

'_Oh crap, I do not like the look in her eyes.' _I gulp slightly, but smile. "Of course Sakura. What would you like to speak to me about?"

I feel my blood go cold as a creepy grin slithers across her face. "Oh nothing much captain, just about your crush on Naruto."

'_Shit'_

Today is definitely not my day.

**Naruto's POV**

I was still trying to get the image of a topless Yamato out of m head when Sakura and Ino came bounding over, dragging Sai along with them. _'This can not be good'. _Those two had tried to set me up with Sai so many times I've lost count. He's not the only person they've tried setting me up with either. There was Shino – which was creepy, Kiba – who had seemed far too eager, Neji – who had looked slightly insulted, and Shikamaru – who had completely ignored them. Of course I found it pretty funny – although slightly scary – and none of them took the girls seriously. _'Though having Kiba spank me nearly every time I walk past is a little disturbing.'_

I set my bowl of ramen down and watch the raven haired ninja who had sat down beside me. It is quite funny to see him doing what looked like an impression of a fish, but that's not what has my attention. I can see captain Yamato in the background watching and trying his best not to laugh. I know he's eavesdropping, and I don't really know why. _'Naruto, you should probably be paying attention to the handsome man in front of you who is trying his best to ask you out.' _ My own thoughts surprise me sometimes. I hadn't really considered the fact that it is usually Sakura and Ino who do all the talking. I decide to give him my full attention.

Giving him my full attention was definitely a smart move. The poor guy was blabbing on about some book he had read. I feel a little bad for him, but comparing our 'relationship' to a book is a little annoying. It also suggests he's not entirely sure about this. I glance over him while he's distracted. _'Sure, the guys hot. I can't deny that. But I fail to see past the fact this was Sakura and Ino's idea' _I frown slightly at that thought. For as long as I've known Sai the guy did nothing but insult Sakura, Sasuke and myself. He doesn't seem to understand emotion, but he knows what to say to get a rise out of someone. And the way he was always fucking smiling when he did it. _'Although, there was that prank we pulled on Tsunade…' _I sigh and shake my head. "Was there something you wanted to ask me Sai?"

It sounded cold I know, but that guy could talk about what he read in a book for hours. It's only when you are close enough that you notice you've managed to surprise Sai. I saw his eyes widen briefly before he smiled.

"Well, Naruto-kun, as I was saying, I read in a book that –

'_No no no, not back on to the book. Quick, interrupt him!' _"Skip to the end." I see Yamato once again stifle a laugh. He seems to be quite good at that. Too bad I already caught him spying on our conversation. I still don't know why. Maybe he's worried that we'll start fighting again.

"Very well; Naruto-kun, would you like to go on a date with me?"

"Sure"

It was out before I had really thought about it. I saw Sai's smile widen and heard what could only be described as two banshee's squealing. Sakura and Ino were obviously quite pleased with themselves. I do a quick re-cap on the situation. I had got asked out by a pretty attractive guy and said yes. Granted, Sai and I fight like dogs most of the time, but still. _'At least this date will be funny' _I start to drift off and imagine what could happen. Too be honest, I'm not overly interested in Sai. But I feel like I should do something normal for once. _'If having a date with another man is normal' _I don't really care about that. What's playing through my head isn't the reactions that other people may have. AS I have already said, Sai and I usually fight a lot. Chances are we'll probably be fighting again by the end of the night.

I come back to the present as I hear Ino directed her psychotically screechy voice at captain Yamato.

"Oh, captain Yamato! It's fantastic! Sai and Naruto are-

Ino was cut off by both of us, "Ino!"

Yamato had fastened his eyes on both of us and I could see Sai begin to sweat slightly and I know we are both blushing. I want to laugh, but something stops me. I feel slightly nervous about how the captain will take it. I don't really know why. _'It's called deluding yourself Naruto. You __**want**__ Yamato to be upset that you're going on a date with someone.' _Shut up stupid brain. I break out of my thoughts when I hear Yamato speak, "You two are what?" Damn that voice is hot. _'Don't start drooling now, answer the man!'_

"It's nothing captain Yamato. Sai just asked me to help him out with something."

I don't really know why I said that. I can't exactly take it back now. That'd be kind of odd – _'Well, I'm not really helping him out. We're going out on a date together. I'm free tomorrow if you want to go out with me then, wink wink, nudge nudge.' _That is a great way to ask someone out. It has also come to my attention that Sai has forgotten how to breathe. I should probably help him.

"I hope you two aren't going to get into any trouble, because I won't be bailing you out this time"

Well, that got Sai breathing again. Although I'm not sure hyperventilating is good for him. He looks a little paler. _'Wait, did he say bailing us out again?' _Oh yea - the prank on Tsunade. She had left the bath running and we poured in a couple of tins of blue paint. It seemed like a great idea at the time. Yamato got there just in time to stop her from killing us. Instead we both ended up on trash duties for a month. That was not fun. We ended up fighting again; not that that was much of a surprise.

"No captain, we do not plan on getting into trouble. We are going out in a date."

I see Yamato's brow lift in surprise. Then I whack Sai on the back of the head. "Sai!" I pause. I don't really know what else to say to him. Sai does not look happy. _'Oh dear' _Well, at least that's bound to be a record. Shortest date ever – seeing as we haven't even gone out on the date yet, or even made arrangements. I feel a little stupid. And Sai glaring at me isn't helping matters. I quickly look up at the captain again, wondering what he'll say. For some reason, I doubt he's going to suddenly push Sai away and run away with me. Reality has no place for day dreams. It's a shame that is. Day dreams are fun, and so much more interesting.

"Well, that's good", _'uh huh', _"but still, try not to get into trouble.

I sigh. I'm not sure if it's relief. I shake my head slightly. _'I shouldn't be thinking about him. Not while there is a hot guy in front of me, who even looks cute when he's huffing.' _I feel my face flush again.

"What did you hit me for?" Sai looks pretty pissed off. I pull my usual stupid grin, hoping he'll realise I didn't really mean to hit him.

"I'm sorry Sai, it was kind of, well, automatic" Thankfully, he seems to have accepted that as he smiles back.

"That's okay Naruto-kun, I know you are probably still nervous about all this."

I want to retort that I don't get nervous about anything, but that would be an utter lie – and I've told enough of them to last a lifetime! So instead I settle for grinning at him, "So what time do you wanna meet at?"

"Is 6 okay?"

"Sure, that'd be fine. I'll see you then!"

As I get up to head home I see Sakura catch up with Yamato. I cringe slightly at the creepy smile that's on her face.

I would sooo hate to be him right now.


	4. The Set Up pt2

_A/N –__w00t, I'm off uni for x-mas. So yes, I will be updating a lot more often ^_^_

_And once again, thanks for reviewing!_

**The Set up** - Part 2

That conversation couldn't have been more awkward. '_Well, it could have been if I hadn't disappeared'_. Yes, Sakura will be annoyed and probably beat the poor captain to death next time she see's him, but he had far more important things to worry about right now. "Namely a young raven haired man trying to steal _my _Naruto." He muttered. '_Wait. Did I just say __**my**__ Naruto? Damn I've got it bad'. _He would have stopped to think about that longer, but with the pink haired wench onto him he doubted he'd have much time. She's probably already told Ino, and god only knows who else. '_Of course, I can completely deny it and they won't ask again'_ – God bless the wonderful emotion we call fear – '_but Sakura, well, she's the problem. No, Sai's the problem. Ah, I'm so confused'_. Kakashi randomly appearing in front of him didn't help Yamato's already shot nerves either.

"Afternoon Yamato" the silver haired ninja smiles as the other man jumps. Yamato wondered briefly if Sakura ever spoke to Kakashi about him or the rest of the team. He doubted it. "Sorry I wasn't over at the training grounds sooner. How's Naruto doing?"

"He's doing quite well. I've given him the rest of the day off."

"Ah yes, Sai said something about bonding before heading off that direction. I guess it's worked out then"

'_Oh did he now?'_ "Um, yes, they seem to be getting along a bit better than usual." _'Did my voice just break? This is not funny. Stop smiling dammit!'_

"Well, it's about bloody time" the other ninja chuckles, "watching those to fight was sort of nostalgic, but slightly worrying" Now he loses his smile. The captain groaned._ 'I was so not hired for this.'_

"Yes, well, I better be off", Yamato silently cursed himself for sounding too eager to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow Kakashi."

"Of course, bright and early," '_Did he just snigger?'_ "And make sure you look after him" and with that he disappeared.

As if today hadn't been a bad enough day already. Yamato continued down the street, earning quite a few odd looks from people. Something about walking down a street looking pissed off and mumbling to yourself seemed to make people nervous. "How does that man always know? Shit_. _Am I really that obvious? I am a trained ninja – sorry, _ANBU_ member – how the hell can I be that obvious? Granted I don't really know what to do when it comes to emotion, and will most probably make an idiot out of myself at some point. Apparently, that's quite normal. I mean, it's not like I'm obsessed with the man." He trailed off as he came to a halt at the corner. He quickly glanced about and grinned, scaring a few young children that happened to come out of the shop in front of him. However, screaming children would not deter our dear captain. "Now; how to find out where Naruto and Sai are going?"

Naruto arrived home quite quickly after leaving the training grounds. Panic attacks do that for you. Why is our wonderfully insane blonde having a panic attack? Someone just asked him out. "It's not often I get asked out – not sincerely anyway." Naruto lamented aloud, still pressed against his door out of breath. "If he's been forced into this by Sakura and Ino, he's not letting it show. Of course, he's an ANBU. He knows how to hide everything. But I gotta feeling he really meant it. This means I gotta get ready. It's already 3pm. I want to at least look decent." Naruto grinned and made his way to the bathroom. He still wasn't overly fond of Sai, but, contrary to belief, he did want to 'bury the hatchet' with the other man at least. He flicked the shower on to let the water heat up and went to his room.

He knew he had something decent to wear. _'I definitely remember getting some stuff in a town that Jirya and I had visited'._ He didn't get much, some food and a couple of changes of clothes. The top he remembered wasn't anything special, just a plain black tee. But the trousers, he knew he just had to get them. They are black with orange slices down the legs. _'Typical, I know. I can't help it, I like orange. And the guy there said they'd really highlight my features._' He guessed the man was talking about the whiskers. He'd tried to get Naruto to go for a blue top to 'go with his eyes' but he didn't bother. He did like the colour, but blue and orange? C'mon, even his sense of fashion and colour co-ordination ain't that bad. Yes, he used to have a navy and orange jacket, but navy isn't as bad as the baby blue top the man was practically trying to force over Naruto's head. He laid them on the bed and makes his way back to the bathroom.

"Dammit, why does it always take so freakin' long for the water to warm up? I should really discuss that with my landlord." _'Yea right, because that would go soooo well.' _He decided he should brush his teeth. "Seriously, eat one of Sakura's soldier pills and the taste never leaves. I shouldn't complain; I know she was trying to help. But really, couldn't she make something that tastes even a little better?" He sticks the brush in his mouth and makes his way down the hall to the kitchen to get some milk. '_I know what you're thinking, but don't worry. I actually check the date now._ _That was the longest day of my life.' _He can't help shuddering. That day was_**not**_pleasant. But anyway, he has no time to think about that. He spits out the toothpaste in the kitchen sink a takes a quick swig out of the milk carton and then makes his way back towards the now steamy bathroom. _'About bloody time.'_

It's 5.30pm and Yamato is waiting outside the ramen stand. _'I should have guessed they were heading here, instead of forcing myself to deal with Ino screeching the answer at me.'_ That had been slightly disturbing. That and the mountain of questions he'll have to answer tomorrow. The only way he could ask her was by buying a bunch of flowers. He just hoped she didn't see him dump them in the bin. A bit of a waste, but who the hell would he give flowers to? _'Here ya go Naruto, a dozen red roses for ya. What do ya think?' _He was also aware that he must look like a right idiot, hiding behind a ramen stand. He had considered going to go in and ordering something so that he'd be there when they arrive, but Sakura had appeared and he was forced to abandon that plan. _'So here I am, hiding in a bloody bush. Seriously, this is getting a little out of hand_._' _He had considered just giving up and waiting to hear about it tomorrow, but what kind of ninja would he be if he had done that? _'And staying here just proves you are obsessed'. _"Shut up brain!"

Sai arrives at 5.55pm. Naruto arrives at 6.05pm. _'Why have I got a feeling he may end up like Kakashi? Well, maybe not that bad. He was only 5 minutes late, not 5 hours'_. Initiate stage 2. _'Seriously, I've lost it. And he looks hot'. _Yamato can't help scanning his eye's over the lithe form. He is mesmerised by how the black t-shirt clings to Naruto chest. Without the blondes usual orange jacket he could see that Naruto's training really had paid off. _'He's not overly muscular, but he is well-developed'._ The black trousers sit nicely on the younger mans hips, and Yamato rolls his eyes when he sees the bright orange stripes down the legs. _'What is it with him and orange?' _ The author realises that Yamato paying attention to what's going on would probably be the best idea. If he starts to drool over Naruto now, he'll never bloody stop.

He creeps closer to the stand, listening to them talk – mostly about training. Yamato sighs and figures he probably should have just stayed at home. He leans back against the side of the stall and closes his eyes, imagining what it would be like if he was there instead of that damned conniving anbu. It takes about an hour before Naruto asked the question he was waiting to hear.

"So, why did you ask me out? Seriously, you don't have to let those two pressure you." Ah yes, even Naruto realises the evil of the two she-devil's. "Well, that's a little comforting." He mutters. "I really should stop calling them that. I'll probably let it slip some day and Sakura will kill me. She probably already knows. That damn girl can read minds." He sighs. "Is it childish and slightly insane to blame Kakashi for all this?" _'No, not at all'. _Yamato is not slow. He realises hearing your own inner voice being sarcastic is not a good sign.

Sai laughs, "No, no, they didn't pressure me. I wanted to get to know you better Naruto – kun. And…"

Yamato perks up to the sudden lack of sound. He leans in, trying to hear what Sai is saying, but to no avail. _'I need to see what's going on. Anything could be happening in there'._ He quickly checks the street to see it basically devoid of life and pokes his head round to the front of the stall to see said ninja whispering into Naruto's ear. He quickly find 3 things wrong with that. 1. He's too close to Naruto, 2. He can't hear what Sai is saying, and 3. He's too close to Naruto. That is not acceptable. He quickly veers back round when Naruto's head suddenly falls back with a bark of laughter.

"You have to be kidding me? So that's what this is all about?"

"Dammit! What did I miss? What the hell did he say to Naruto?"_ 'So that's what this is all about?' _That doesn't exactly put the captain at ease. "What are those two up to?" _'Uh oh, the pink haired wench is coming this way.'_ Yamato decides he should leave. And he is determined to get to the bottom of this!

Naruto caught the puff of smoke out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help giggling. Sai raised an eyebrow. He knew Naruto had found their plan a bit funny, but to still be giggling- Naruto cut this thought short.

"I think we were being spied on" he told the raven haired ninja, after the giggling had subsided of course.

"Ah yes, I believe captain Yamato had been hiding in the bushes at the side of the stand. Probably making sure we weren't up to anything" Sai couldn't help the small giggle that escaped him and quickly tried to cover it up with a cough.

"What?!" the blonde looked slightly alarmed. "You don't think he heard anything do you?"

"By anything I take it you mean the plan?" Naruto nodded a little too enthusiastically and a loud crack could be heard echoing down the street. "No Naruto, I highly doubt he heard anything"

Naruto let out the breath he hadn't realised he was holding. "Great, so when do we start it?"

"Well, technically we already have, but the main plan begins tomorrow morning. Ah, here comes Sakura now" he smiled and waved the pink haired girl in.

Naruto was a little uneasy, but was slightly thankful that it was only Sakura and not Ino conducting the 'plan'. "Hey Sakura", he beamed as he ordered another bowl of ramen.

"Hey guys, lets get down to business".

Yamato quickly discovered that mornings suck. Especially when you begin your morning by finding two sheepish boys sitting in the middle of the training grounds, far too close for your liking. That is how his morning has begun.

"Morning Captain Yamato!" they both chorused together. And that was far too cheery for his liking too.

_A/N – Yeah, I'm aware this isn't overly funny so far… more cheesy lol. So any suggestions / idea's you may have are more than welcome!_


	5. The Plan

_A/N – I gotta admit I'm still not 100% sure where this is going__, and I'm aware it's not really funny… so anyone with any ideas/requests etc please let me know! I'd really appreciate it!_

**The Plan**

Both Naruto and Sai noted – quite gleefully I might add -Yamato's grimace at their cheery greeting. That and that his smile was at least 10% creepier. Both were thankful that they were on the training grounds. There had already been quite a few reports of children suffering from insomnia and severe mental trauma, and that was only within the past week. Sniggering didn't really seem to help the inwardly seething captain. Neither did listening to the two young men flirt. Of course, for some unknown reason, that didn't stop Naruto and Sai from doing just that.

"Sai" Naruto whined, between giggles, "don't do that!"

"Aw, come on Naruto. Nobodies looking" Apparently Sai was a quick learner.

They both relished the loud crack that they'd dubbed 'The Spinner'. In other words, Yamato's head whipping around so quickly his neck had trouble keeping up. Yamato sighed in relieve, although his head continued to rant and rave, as he watched Sai pour Naruto a cup of tea. He cursed as he rubbed his now sore neck and continued to ignore the giggling blonde in front of him. _'Calm down Yamato. You can't date him if you kill him. Remember, necrophilia is wrong.' _He cringed at his own strange inner thoughts and decided two could play this game. He smiled as he approached them.

"I take it you two had fun last night then?" Yamato inquired cheerfully.

"Oh yes, we had great fun" Naruto said, grinning like a maniac, and tossed his arm over Sai's shoulder.

"Yes, we did. I didn't think me and Naruto-kun would have _so _much in common" Sai added with a sly grin and tossed his own arm over Naruto, pulling the blonde closer to him.

Yamato counted to ten. Killing two students, even if the Hokage agreed with him, would not be good. He grinned back at the boys, "That's great to hear! I was going to say you should talk with Kakashi, but I don't think he's the right person to speak to about this."

Both boys looked at each other before focusing their attention on the man before them. "What talk?" they chorused.

Yamato smiled, inwardly dancing at his own genius, and bent down in front of the boys. "Well, it's not really a talk. I'm sure you've had _that _one before, more like a reminder", he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as he handed the blonde a small box. "Always use protection!"

He took a moment to memorize their expressions before making his way back over to the water fall. "Come on Naruto, lots to do today." The boy in question was having difficulty pulling his jaw back off the ground. Sai seemed to be frozen in place. The only thing in common was their look of utter shock and horror before they quickly bounced back from one and another.

"What the fuck just happened?" Naruto was first to break the silence.

"Um… either he's retarded or he's figured out what we're up to. I vote for the latter." Sai stated calmly.

"But how?! That was only the bloody start of phase 1!" Sakura had forced them to learn the order of the plan and to never, ever, vary from it. Unless in an emergency. An emergency being this.

Sai shrugged. "Maybe we went a bit overboard. If Sakura is right, that probably really pissed him off." The raven haired ninja stopped to think about that. "Why exactly would you want to piss him off?"

"Huh?"

"Well, Sakura seemed to think 'phase 1' was a great idea, mostly because it would piss captain Yamato off. I don't really understand how that is a good thing." He paused. "Do people like it when you do something to piss them off?"

Naruto sighed. "We weren't trying to piss him off, we were trying to make him jealous, dumbass"

"That would hardly be a difficult task" Sai concluded.

"That's not the point Sai. Sakura says he likes me, but there's no real proof of that. It's not like he's suddenly going to walk over here and confess his undying love to me!"

Yamato choose this moment to interrupt. "Naruto, do you plan on training at all today? Or should I just go home?"

Naruto quickly jumped up, "Coming captain Yamato!"

Sai chuckled, "I think we'll move onto phase 2 soon, before _you _confess your undying love to _him_."

"Shut up Sai"

Phase 2 was quite simple, although Sakura modified it after the morning's activities. If Yamato was jealous of Sai, it would be dangerous to continue down that road. The glares he'd been shooting in the raven haired ninja's direction all day even freaked her out. They quickly formed a new idea while their captain was distracted by a certain silver haired ninja. Sakura still couldn't figure out if he winked at her or was just blinking. This question, of course, was contemplated between her stifled giggles. Oh how she wished Yamato's back wasn't to her.

"Oh yes, Naruto and I spent plenty of time together back in the day. I have missed being his sensei" Kakashi said, with a twinkle in his eye that could have rivalled Dumbledore's.

"You don't say" Yamato said through a smile, disguising his clenched teeth. "Well, you shouldn't rush yourself. Don't want to end up in hospital again when you've only been released."

"Of course not! That'd be awful!" Kakashi completely ignored the threat, "Wouldn't want to miss out on any of Naruto's training would I?"

The blonde in question sat focused on his ramen, and absolutely nothing else. Sakura knew that if the blonde heard a word of this conversation, it would completely spoil everything. Even though she had told Naruto how to behave when the two were talking, she decided distracting him by food would probably be easier. She and Sai had decided while Naruto was training that choosing Kakashi was perfect. At least if Yamato lost it Kakashi could most definitely handle himself. Well, probably better than Sai could anyway.

"Oh no, I definitely don't want to miss his training. Can't you see how far he has…" Kakashi quickly flicked his eyes to Naruto, then back to Yamato, "Progressed?"

Then again, if this continued, Kakashi was at least losing a limb. Sakura was about to intervene.

"Anyways, must be off. The new icha-icha paradise is out. Later." And with that the silver haired ninja disappeared. _'At least he knows when to stop' _Sakura thought, releasing a breath she hadn't known she was holding. Naruto was still oblivious. And for some reason Sai looked a little shaky. Sakura turned to find out why. Yamato was staring at them, and he was livid. For once, she actually was scared of the generally mild mannered anbu. _'Oh shit'._

Yamato wasn't exactly staring at them, more like starting straight through them. He wanted to throttle Kakashi for thinking of Naruto like that. _'Granted I do as well, but I'm allowed to'. _Yamato took a deep breath and forced himself to calm. It wouldn't do to scare the entire village. He'd been complained at enough by the hokage. He quickly smiled at the two terrified young ninja's before him, and the still oblivious blonde. _'Thank god he didn't see or hear any of that.' _ Although he wondered what it was like before he came along, when it was just Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi? Hadn't Kakashi and Naruto gone off after Deidara by themselves? He shook himself out of such thoughts. They could be obsessed over later. He cleared his throat, "Is everyone done?"

Sakura and Sai nodded their heads quickly – a little too quickly judging by the odd snapping noises – and Naruto put down his bowl and smiled at the captain. "Yea, I'm done. Thanks captain Yamato!" Yamato couldn't help but smile back. Both Sakura and Sai visibly relaxed and thanked everything that Naruto could calm the man so easily. This brought Sakura back to the task at hand.

"Why don't you two go on and train. Sai and I will meet you back here later for dinner. My treat this time" Sakura said as she grabbed the raven haired man and trailed him away from the ramen stand.

"Okay, see you guys later" Naruto called out after their retreating forms. Yamato secretly thanked them both. At least he got the few minutes that it took to walk back to the training grounds to be with Naruto. However, finding something to talk about wasn't as easy.

"So, it's good to see you three getting on" Yamato cursed his people skills – or lack of.

Naruto laughed "Yea, it's still a little difficult at times, but we're starting to work together better."

'_Work together?' _"Well, that's good to know" Yamato replied while mulling over Naruto's words. _'So they are up to something.' _They spent most of the rest of the walk in relative silence, safe for a few comments about the weather and other mundane stuff. Small talk was a bitch.

Yamato watched silently as Naruto tried to create his new technique. He had progressed so far in so short a time, it actually scared Yamato a little. Of course, this didn't stop our captain from thinking wonderfully dirty thoughts when Naruto took his top off or when the blonde smiled at him. At the start, he had tried ignoring it. But when he had seen the necklace, swinging across the man's chest, it had drawn him in. He used to compare it to Naruto's eyes, but that really did them no justice what so ever. Those beautiful cerulean orbs could never be replicated. He knew he was becoming obsessed with the young man when he started dreaming of those eyes. It didn't take long before the dreams changed to include the blonde's athletic form. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a thump.

Naruto dropped to the ground with a thump and lay watching the darkening skies above him. He wasn't sure when it the weather had changed, he hadn't exactly been paying attention. He was putting everything into his training, and had nothing to show for it. He had known that putting the rasengan and wind nature manipulation together wasn't going to be easy, but he felt he had made little progress and couldn't help feeling depressed. _'At this rate, it'll take me years to catch up to Sasuke'. _Naruto shuddered slightly at the name. Every time he thought of it all he could see were cold red eyes. He had tried hard to remember his best friend, but it was always those eyes that would glare at him; looking at him as though he wasn't worthy to even lick the soles of his shoes. This image didn't help the fragile state that our blonde hero was already in. _'Kakashi-sensei had such high expectations for me and I'm not meeting them at all.' _He could feel the last of his hopes and dreams begin to slip through his fingers as those harsh red eyes burned into him. He knew he couldn't quit now.

Yamato watched in amazement. Moments ago the blonde looked like his very soul was shattering, the next he was up and straight back at it. Yamato hadn't really known Sasuke, but he felt a pang when he realised that must have been who the young ninja was thinking of. He stared, completely spellbound, as Naruto tried over and over again. But it wasn't that that had his attention. It was those beautiful azure orbs; those astounding eyes, that held so much pain.

_A/N – So__rry to end with a sort of sad scene there. I couldn't think of anything else. Was looking through Naruto Shippuuden episodes and was inspired by the scene in Episode 81 when Naruto gets depressed about failing at creating his new technique. I promise it'll be happier next time!_


	6. Breakdown in Communication

_A/N – I'm still not entirely sure where I'm going with this, so I'm just writing to see what happens lol. So bear with me, I'm sure I'll get somewhere._

_And thank you all for the reviews and favs ^_^_

**Breakdown in Communication**

Yamato stared in wonder at the cerulean eyes that gazed down at him. He felt hands pushing his wrists against the ground. His breath hitched as the blonde straddled his waist, grinning mischievously as he pinned the captain down. He felt a bead of sweat slide down his face as the blonde leant in closer. Naruto's grin faded as he hesitated, chewing on his lower lip as he nervously looked around. The captain's heart sped up as he watched the large azure orbs dart around, making sure no one was watching. The blonde locked eyes with his again, sending shivers down the older mans spine. He felt his eyes widen in amazement as Naruto leant in closer, their lips only a breath apart.

"Captain Yamato?"

"Yes Naruto?"

"What are you doing?" Naruto pulled back, looking mildly confused, "When someone pins you down, you're supposed to fight back."

Yamato blinked, finally pulling back to reality, and cursed. Someone had thought it was a great idea for Naruto to have a sparing partner - so that he wasn't focusing solely on creating his new technique - and somebody thought it was a great idea to make Yamato that sparing partner. _'The next time I see Kakashi, I'm going to kill the smug silver haired bastard', _Yamato thought as he pulled himself up into a sitting position.

"Sorry Naruto, my mind was, uh, elsewhere", he flustered slightly at the thought, but quickly brushed it off hoping the blonde hadn't noticed. Unfortunately, things didn't seem to be going his way today as said blonde gave him an odd look. _'Typical. You finally get him that close, do nothing and he's already onto you. Great work'_ He cursed his own mind for being useless, and glanced over at the now pouting Naruto. _'Huh?'_

"Aw, and there was me thinking I'd knocked you into next week" Naruto complained, before grinning. Yamato did the first thing that came to mind – he lunged at him. Naruto quickly jumped up and ran off laughing, "Catch me if you can!"

Yamato watched as a blonde blur sped by him and tried his best **not **to think of Leonardo DiCaprio. _'Now that is an image I most definitely want to forget' _Yamato grimaced as he hauled himself up. He watched Naruto run around the training field, stopping for moments at a time to either make funny faces at him or call him a chicken. This did not settle well with the captain, as Naruto soon found out when the ANBU ran straight at him.

"Oh… shit…" This time, Naruto really did run for his life, laughing like a maniac. He knew exactly how to throw the captain off. All it would take was one song.

Yamato, slightly more enraged by the manic laughing, and slightly shocked remembering that he had literally pounced at the man, began to slow as he heard the blonde in front of him humming a slightly familiar tune. It also didn't escape his notice that Naruto was slowing down too. Naruto turned, grinning like an idiot and running backwards, and began to sing. The captain stopped dead in his tracks. _'You've got to be fucking kidding me!'_

"Na-na-na-na na-na-na-na Batman!"

Sai slapped his hand across his forehead as he watched the captain finally tackle Naruto. Sakura had seemed frighteningly excited about the idea of Yamato being Naruto's sparing partner. He didn't really see why. He could have been Naruto's sparring partner. Instead here he was, having to watch the blonde sing and play with the sensei instead of playing with him. Most people would have corrected themselves after that sentence, but Sai didn't seem to understand that. This is why he has a black eye and sore head, thanks to Sakura. He had a feeling he wasn't going to be part of any of her plans for a while, unless it was to set him up with someone else. That thought made him shiver. He heard Naruto laugh as Yamato threatened him – something about dying Naruto's hair green and forcing him to wear purple – and felt a little jealous. Sai had thought that he and Naruto were getting on a lot better, and part of him had hoped that maybe that was because… _'Don't be stupid Sai.' _Everything they had done was a ploy to get Yamato to admit his feelings. It did depress him slightly though, wondering just how much he actually meant to Naruto.

Yamato knew they were being watched and felt a pang of guilt. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on between Sai and Naruto – though he knew the other day they were simply trying to annoy him. _'Probably Sakura and Ino thought it'd be funny. Damn she – devil's'. _He didn't think they were together, but he wasn't convinced it was friendship either. At least, on one person's side it wasn't. Sai had been here every day since then, watching Naruto train for hours on end. He was easy enough to ignore, as most of Yamato's attention was on Naruto anyway. Today, however, he seemed a little off. He had created a clone out of the tree behind Sai, and was slightly disturbed by the strange vibes coming off the young raven haired man. Sai was obviously confused about something, but he seemed quite angry as well. Not exactly easy to tell that from his straight and, usually, perfectly blank face. But Yamato had not been appointed to the ranks of ANBU for nothing. He had a feeling that anger was directed at him, but he was a little worried. The young man never once took his eyes off Naruto. Maybe it was the blonde he was pissed off at. _'But why?'_

Yamato cleared his throat, catching the attention of the still sniggering Naruto. "Come on, Naruto. We should get back to training before night falls." He made his way back to where they had been sparring. Naruto pouted, but followed.

"Fine, captain kill-joy" he muttered under his breath.

"I heard that."

Sai watched as the two fought late into the evening, evidently lost in their match. Flashes of white bounced in the air as the moon revealed their weapons. _'It looks like they are dancing', _Sai mused, remembering a book he had read after Sakura told him about the plan. He was a little embarrassed that he had went to such great lengths, but he hadn't been sure what exactly Sakura and Ino wanted him to do - And if he'd managed to please Naruto that would have been a bonus. _'Would it have?' _To say Sai felt confused was an understatement. His chest felt constricted, his jaw hurt from clenching, his palms were sweaty and he had an odd desire to beat captain Yamato to death. It wasn't jealousy though. Oh no, Sai was not jealous. _'Am I jealous? No, I couldn't be. I didn't get angry at Kakashi like captain Yamato did. Except when he paired Naruto and Yamato together'. _Feeling beyond frustrated, Sai decided he'd go look it up. He couldn't talk to Sakura right now, as she was mad at him for something, and he didn't exactly trust Sakura's opinion. Forcing someone to admit their feelings didn't really seem to be the right way to go about things. Originally, he had grasped that it would take forever for Yamato to admit anything, but now he wasn't so sure. The way things were progressing seemed steady enough, as much as he hated to admit it. Therefore, Sakura was wrong. _'So why is Kakashi helping her?'_

Said silver haired ninja watched as the young man final slinked away, throwing one last glance over his shoulder towards the two dancing silhouettes. Yamato's clone had appeared to Kakashi a little over an hour ago asking him to keep an eye on Sai. The young ANBU had evidently become attached to Naruto, and how could you blame him? Kakashi didn't know much about Sai, but he knew how the ANBU worked. _'He's been alone for a long time. It's only to be expected that he'd become a little needy after making a friend.' _He felt a little sorry for dragging Sai into everything, but there was more than one person that needed to show their feelings. Originally he'd been all for Sakura's plan, Yamato and Naruto obviously liked each other, but now he wasn't so sure. Naruto wasn't one to fake anything. _'Hell, Naruto couldn't fake if he tried.' _So why suddenly be so friendly with Sai? He sighed, _'Sakura will kill me if she finds out what I'm up to.' _And with that he disappeared.

The two finally slowed, Yamato feeling more drained than he'd like to admit. He tried to calm his erratic breathing, hearing Naruto inhale deeply. He turned finding the boys eyes closed, taking a deep breath every five seconds, and releasing a breath every five seconds. It was odd to see the blonde look that calm. Captain Yamato never figured Naruto to be one to meditate. Then again, Naruto was a man that was full of surprises. He couldn't help cracking a smile –not the one that terrifies small children– as Naruto opened his eyes again. The blonde quirked an eyebrow at him, "What?"

"It's not often I see you sitting still for more than a minute", he tilted his head to the side and thought about that. "Except when there's a bowl of ramen in front of you, and even then you're not exactly still."

Naruto rolled his eyes "Whatever sensei. Maybe we should call it a night, it's getting pretty late."

Yamato looked at the blonde for a minute, worried by the almost monotonous answer. He had expected the blonde to argue or throw back an insult at his teasing. He realised a soft smile had crossed the young mans features as he sat looking up at the stars. He desperately wanted to know what was going through the blondes head. _'Probably not the same thought as yours. Honestly, if we don't do something soon this place is going to turn into a constant porn movie.' _He sighed and sat down beside Naruto, wondering what the hell he was supposed to actually say. He couldn't just leap on the boy, could he? Nah, that hadn't exactly worked out right last time. He put his arm around Naruto, pulling him closer. The blondes head tilted and wide azure orbs looked up at him curiously – _'Oh god don't look at me like that.'_– before the small smile spread across his face again.

They sat like that for a while, watching the stars. Yamato wasn't sure if he was grateful or nervous by the silence, but Naruto's reassuring smiles every few minutes comforted him. His mind and body were screaming at him to do something, he just wasn't sure he could bring himself to. He had rarely seen a peaceful Naruto, and he'd be damned if he broke it. Not that he needed to. He knew all good things came to an end, and this did. He watched as Naruto's gaze wandered over to the woods and a frown settled on his face, before quickly disappearing. If Yamato hadn't been watching him he swore he never would've seen it. The soft smile was beginning to look slightly strained, so Yamato squeezed his arm gently, forcing the blonde to look up at him. He watched as the young mans gaze went once again to the woods, and this time he let his own gaze follow. He felt his stomach twist into knots.

"Captain Yamato?"

It was a place he had been watching.

"Yes Naruto?"

A place he had asked Kakashi to watch for him.

Naruto looked up at him, concern etched across his face, and the captain knew he had been right.

"Where's Sai?"

_A/N – Have I been mean to Sai? –smiles innocently- I'm horrible aren't I? Sorry for taking so long with this. I swear I'm already working on the next chapter. And, if I remember correctly, Betahime Tsukiko wanted Naruto-kun on a platter lol. _

_I also realize I suck at humour unless it's dark, sarcastic, or completely off the wall, so not sure humours working well with this. But I'll keep trying until you all tell me to shut up lol._


	7. Ravens Struggle

_A/N – this chapter focuses a little bit more on Sai. Only a little bit._

_Sorry I took so long to update. I couldn't log into FanFiction for a couple of days there_

**Ravens Struggle**

Sai watched from the forests edge as the two ninjas began sparring again. Naruto had definitely improved, but Sai already knew hand to hand combat was not a difficult task for the blonde. He knew Naruto had run into plenty of battles without fore thought and still came out on top, _'Though not always without help.' _He had also learned a little from the knuckle-heads past. Not from things the blonde told him; more from the things he did not say. Naruto had told him how much the villagers had hated him when he was younger. Sai had wanted to press the issue, but he really didn't need to. He knew that people feared what they did not understand, and he knew what that kind of hatred could lead to.

The dark haired man shook his head and continued to watch the two before him. Something seemed different. Naruto was grinning like an idiot, as usual, but Yamato seemed a little off. He was smiling and encouraging the younger man, but his eyes betrayed him. Sai frowned, _'Did something happen after I left last night?' _He could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he imagined all the different scenarios that could have lead to the look in Yamato's eyes. He spun quickly as he heard a twig snap behind him, and came face to face with a rather sheepish looking silver haired Junín.

"Uh, hey there", even with the mask on Sai could see him smile. He also felt a little triumph when he saw the older man rub the back of his neck nervously. Obviously Kakashi had been spying on him. _'Captain Yamato mustn't have wanted to make another clone', _Sai smirked inwardly. At least now he knew why the captain seemed so off. He didn't like Sai hanging around the training grounds, _'Probably concerned about my motives'_. Snippets of the time they had went after Sasuke flashed through his mind, as did bits of his and Naruto's teasing. He really couldn't blame the man for being worried.

"Hello Sensei. Are you here to check on Naruto-kun's training?"

The man never faltered, and Sai truly had to give him credit for that. "No, Sai. I am here to see how your training is going."

"My training?" He tilted his head, giving the silver haired man a funny look. '_He must have fallen on his head. Should I treat him for concussion or leave him here? After the way he thought about Naruto-kun' _Sai frowned remembering what Kakashi had suggested at the ramen stand_.' I wonder if they would notice an extra lump.'_

Kakashi chuckled to himself as he watched the younger man struggle to understand. _'that and he's probably trying to come up with a reason why my dead body was found hanging outside the Hokage's office.' _He had noticed Yamato wasn't the only one that was pissed off at him at the ramen stand when he had implied he had certain thoughts about the bubbly blonde. He was mildly surprised at the ravens glare, and was glad Sakura hadn't noticed. The last thing he needed was to be attacked by the pink haired girl. Again. Last time she'd given him a pretty nasty concussion – and that had only been her 'playing'. How Naruto had survived this many years was beyond him. Although, he now understood why Naruto cared less about containing the Kyuubi.

Kakashi realised Sai was still staring at him oddly, and looking mildly annoyed.

He cleared his throat, "What I meant is I am here to check up on how your human studies are going."

The raven haired man flustered slightly at that. He was used to the younger ones asking him about it, curiosity and all that, so it never really bothered him. Hell he was even used to people his age and his team mates asking him about it. He'd discussed it many times with Naruto, the only person he actually felt comfortable telling. Though he was sure most of it went straight over the blondes head, at least it left him satisfied enough not to ask anymore questions. What he didn't expect was a grown man, a Junín, asking him about his studies; especially not if that Junín is Hatake Kakashi. It just seemed … odd. _'He's trying to distract me'. _Sai thought, letting a small smile cross his face. He'd seen Naruto smile like this when he knew something or was up to something, and it always had the same effect no matter who it was done to. Seeing Kakashi freeze, hand still on the back of his neck and eye trying to look anywhere except at Sai's grin. Sai found this hilarious.

"My 'training' is going fine Kakashi-sensei. Naruto – kun has been a lot of help."

Kakashi paused at hearing the blonde's name, bringing him back to the task at hand. "Ah yes, Naruto is quite an emotional person, so that would be a big help." Sai glared at him, opening his mouth to retort – probably to tell the silver haired ninja where to go – when Kakashi cut him off, "I have been wondering how well you and Naruto are really getting on." Kakashi smiled triumphantly as Sai managed to pale even further.

Naruto followed Yamato's gaze over towards the empty clearing at the edge of the forest and frowned. He knew he and Sai had annoyed the captain slightly by teasing him, but Naruto honestly thought he had gotten over it by now. _'After all Sai hasn't even come into the training grounds again, just waited at the clearing. Why else would I be miffed when he's not there?' _Naruto cringed as he realised what had set Yamato off at the end of their last training session. He had asked where Sai was. He really hadn't meant anything by it, but obviously his captain thought he had. _'Damn, this is getting way out of hand'. _He had to think of a way to reassure the captain, without freaking him out, before the man killed Sai. Thankfully Yamato saved him from having to think any further.

"Naruto-kun, you need to pay attention."

Naruto's eyes snapped back to the man who'd obviously been waiting impatiently for him to return to the realm of the living. So he did what he always did. He grinned. "Sorry captain, I was just thinking."

Yamato quirked an eyebrow, "Oh, care to enlighten me?"

Naruto laughed slightly, "Yeah, I think it's time for a break" he said before making his way over towards there bags. Yamato shook his head and followed the younger man.

"You're not a very good liar Naruto", he chuckled as he sat down, leaning against a tree. He watched as the young man gulped from his bottle of water and quickly shook his head. "So what's really bothering you?"

Naruto let the bottle dropped and sighed. _'It's now or never.' _He turned towards the captain and gulped. "Why don't you like Sai?"

Yamato's eyes widen slightly at the question, before plastering a fake smile on his face, "I don't know what you mean Naruto. I'm simply cautious of him –

Naruto cut him off, "Come on captain, I know a fake smile when I see one. I used them often enough." He shuddered slightly at letting that information slip, but quickly ploughed on so that Yamato couldn't retort. "I mean, I know Sai was an asshole, and can still be a bit of a creep. I know he's different, but I didn't think something like that would bother you."

Yamato had let the smile disappear and looked like he was concentrating very, very hard on his hands. Naruto sighed, _'Maybe it was a little too soon to ask him something like that. It's probably something personal that has nothing to do with me.' _Naruto chewed his bottom lip nervously. _'I've just gone and fucked everything up haven't I?' _He watched as the captain cleared his throat and turned to speak, _'but it was getting a little out of hand.'_

"Naruto", the blonde let his gaze fall to the ground, shuffling his feet nervously, "I do not hate Sai. I'm sorry if I gave either of you that impression."

Naruto brought his head up to meet his captain's gaze, confused by the answer. "Then why" – he dropped the question, worried about how the captain would respond.

"Why have I been such an asshole?" Naruto looked at him incredulously as Yamato chuckled. "Let's just say I felt like he was getting in the way of something I want." Yamato flashed him a grin – a grin that wouldn't send small children away crying, but definitely sent wonderful shivers down Naruto's spine. He chuckled again as wide blue orbs stared at him in wonder. "Maybe we should call it tonight."

Of course, all that our blonde hero heard was fussy mumbling, his mind far too busy with other things. _'Something he wants, something he wants, something he wants..' -_Insert pervy thoughts here – _'please for the love of pork ramen let him be talking about me!'_

He was pulled out of his thoughts when a warm hand fell on his shoulder. "Naruto-kun, are you coming?"

Naruto tried his best to contain his shudder and the moan that threatened to fall from his lips at that sentence, _'Damn you Yamato. I swear that mans doing this on purpose.' _He turned and looked up at the man waiting expectantly behind him and croaked, "Yes, captain." Then silently cursed the fact his voice cracked.

Yamato chuckled slightly to himself. He'd felt the blonde shiver under his hand – and used all the self control and patience he had left not to pounce on him – and knew then that Sai had never been a threat. _'Well, he __**maybe **__wasn't a threat.' _Of course, that didn't mean that he was going to trust the raven around Naruto. He had seen some of the looks he threw Naruto. Thankfully, the blonde never seemed to notice any of them. He took that as a sign Naruto wasn't interested in the pale man, but he still couldn't let it go.

That morning when he watched them flirt and tease him, he knew it had been fake. But something inside him just refused to acknowledge that fact. _'I don't think I've wanted to hit someone so badly in my life.' _That was the day Yamato knew he'd completely fallen. That morning he'd swore Naruto would be his.

_A/N – sorry it's shorter than most. I just had to leave it there ^_^_


	8. The Date,That's Not a Date,That's a Date

_A/N –Sorry for being so slow to update. Uni has been pretty busy lately –I started writing this while doing a residency lol. Thank you for all the reviews and favs ^_^ hope you continue to enjoy!_

**The date, that's not a date, that is a date?**

"Eh… you want to go out?"

Naruto blinked and stared at the captain. _'I did hear him right didn't I?' _Of course, that didn't stop the blonde from questioning it. It seemed too odd; too out of the blue. Yamato had practically ignored him for the last week, except for answering when he really had to and giving the blonde _that _smile. It was driving him nuts. He almost wanted to leap and the man, hit him, strangle him, **kiss** him; anything that would get the older man to notice him. He had thought things were better now that the thing with Sai was sorted – _'Where the hell is Sai anyway?' _– But the man had hardly even glanced at Naruto, or at least that's what the blonde thought. Then just as he was working up the nerve to actually tackle the man, he turns round and asks Naruto if he wants to go out! _'The nerve of some people!' _Naruto nodded enthusiastically at his own thought then stopped, _'wait… being asked out is a good thing.' _He quickly looked up and checked that the older man hadn't got bored and wandered off. It seemed most Junín's had the same kind of attention span.

Yamato chuckled slightly at the younger man, "Yes Naruto – kun. You've been training quite hard recently and I thought you had earned a break."

"Oh"

"What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh! Nothing!" Naruto inwardly cursed himself for voicing his disappointment outside. _'Idiot.' _

"Fantastic, tomorrow afternoon instead of training then," Yamato smiled down at him, feeling only a smidgen of guilt at Naruto's internal battle. _'Hey, after his stunt with Sai, you deserve to be a little mean, don't'cha think?' _Yamato's smile got wider, but thankfully no kids were around – as no screams or cries of terror were heard - and Naruto was evidently getting used to it… - as no screams or cries of terror were heard.

Naruto shifted awkwardly from foot to foot as he tried to figure out how to reply. If it was a date that Yamato was asking him on then saying 'Yes Sensei' was idiotic, as was blurting his undying love or reciting poetry, no matter how romantic Sakura thought it was – _'Huh, I haven't seen Sakura in a while either'. _Naruto thought about that… then cringed, _'I wonder if those two –_

His thoughts were interrupted by a squeal of delight as said pink haired girl came flying through the woods and straight at Naruto. The blonde braced himself, but nothing happened. He cracked open a blue eye when he wasn't 'glomped' to death. "What the –

Naruto couldn't help laughing at the sight before him. He had tried not to, he really had. Okay so he hadn't exactly _tried _but he did feel a little bad afterwards. Sprawled on the ground in a wonderful heap, was none other than the always 'lost on the road of life' silver haired Junín. The road of life just so happened to be a pink haired girl crushing him today. Kakashi had just been arriving and had been sauntering over towards Naruto when he collided with Sakura. _'Funny how they never saw each other.'_

Kakashi shook his head to clear it and pushed Sakura off him. He looked around and Naruto burst into another fit of laughter as he saw the one visible eye go wide. "Don't listen to anything she says! She's lying!"

The blonde stopped abruptly and stared at his team captain. He had expected Kakashi to blab something about the road of life, or say he had meant to collide with Sakura – to teach her a lesson about always being aware of your surroundings or some bullshit. This, he had not expected. _'Well, this should be interesting.' _He looked over at Yamato who had cocked an eyebrow up and was smirking at the disgruntled Junín who had finally pulled himself up of the ground.

"Really?" Yamato asked, the humour evident in his tone, "And what exactly would she be lying about?"

Kakashi cleared his throat, "Did I say she was lying about something? Forgive me. I must have hit my head when she ran in to me –

"When I ran into you?" Sakura glared at him, "More like when _you_ ran in to _me_!"

Yamato and Naruto stood back, happily watching the argument carrying on in front of them. Naruto tilted the bag of popcorn towards the brown haired man, "Want some?"

The older man stared at him, "Where the hell did you get popcorn?"

Naruto shrugged, "Author, I guess" He replied through mouthfuls.

"Figures", the elder man replied, watching the skies carefully before resuming enjoying the fight. Whatever was going on did look entertaining enough, but he only caught brief words – ones he refused to repeat, of course. His mind was stuck on his date. _'Well, not a date… but sort of like a date?' _The way the blonde had pretty much repeated the question had made him a little nervous. Why, you ask? Simple:-

1. Captain Yamato was _**not **_that obvious. Granted everyone seemed to know what was going on, but Yamato chalked their odd behaviour up to the fact that they were, well, odd.

2. Yamato was an ANBU. Therefore he did not exactly have the time to do much. Mainly, he did not have time for dates. Granted he'd never really been interested, but still. However, he did know how to ask someone out, without asking them out. He was quite proud of that fact. He'd asked Naruto out quite a few times. Okay, so this time was a little different, but he asked the same way he always asked.

… '_Didn't I?' _Yamato hated having to question himself. It made him feel weak. It made him feel like a complete idiot. Had he made a fool of himself in front of the blonde? He looked over at Naruto who was currently bouncing up and down beside him laughing manically at his two team mates who, of course, were still fighting. _'Far too much energy', _he thought to himself as he watched the younger man. At that thought, his eyes glazed over and a sly grin crept across his face.

Naruto, however, was still in a state of pure shock. And panic. Of course there'd be panic. The blonde nervously grinned like an idiot, aware he was bouncing up and down. _'Thank god there's a fight going on in front of me', _he thought as he glanced over at the man who had made him so giddy. Said man glanced back at him and Naruto quickly avoided eye contact, not wanting him to know just how excited he was. He knew he probably looked like an insane child as he bounced on the spot, but he couldn't help it. The moment Yamato had asked him if he'd like to go out somewhere he had felt this odd energy bubble up inside him. Hell, even the Kyubbi seemed excited, and Naruto hadn't heard from him in a while. Not that he was going to repeat a damn thing the fox said. Those images he could do without right now.

'_A date, Captain Yamato asked me out on a date! I know he did!' _the blonde thought excitedly. He suddenly stopped bouncing and looked back at the man beside him. A strange grin had appeared on his face, and from the look in his eyes he was somewhere else entirely. In that moment, Naruto felt more nervous than he had before. He didn't know what kind of experiences the older man had had, nor did he know what was to be expected after a date. Sakura was too caught up in something to help him, as was Kakashi. And he full out refused to go to Jiyra. That left only one person. Naruto gulped and turned towards Yamato, who finally looked like he had returned to the land of the living.

"Captain Yamato, I have to go see someone," the captain gave him an odd look – which Naruto chose to ignore – so he quickly finished, "I'll see you tomorrow!"

With that he quickly ran on, leaving the brunette behind to deal with the fight that had reduced itself to petty named calling and hair pulling.

Naruto was terrified as he knocked at the door. Any normal person would be. This was not a house you simply called on. Well, unless you were suicidal and wanted to be beaten senseless and viciously destroyed. He had tried to think of other people he could talk to, but he just couldn't. Most would either go on about hopelessly romantic gibberish, or would be complete perverts. He knew if he wanted cold hard facts there was only one person he could go to. Still didn't stop him from being petrified though. He heard footsteps come stomping towards the front door and gasped as the door swung open, lavender eyes piercing into his own startled blue ones. The man turned and began to walk back into the house, growling as he did so.

"You better come in then"

Naruto released the breath he had unconsciously been holding and quickly stepped into the home of disgruntled prodigy Neji Hyuga.

As Yamato made his way home, he couldn't help but wonder what had made Naruto run off like that, and who it was he was going to see. Yamato inwardly growled at that. At least, it was supposed to be inwardly. The scattering villagers proved otherwise. He quickly calmed himself, and apologised to the remaining old man that was staring at him open mouthed. The man dumbly nodded in reply, and the captain decided to hurry on.

Yamato's home was a lot like Naruto's. A small flat close to the village centre, but still out of the way. It was quieter than he thought it was going to be – which he was eternally grateful for – and the flat itself wasn't bad once he'd got some furniture into it. Of course, he was used to living alone, and he was generally busy, so the place was a mess. He cringed slightly at the thought of tidying. As he lifted a couple of tea cups, he realised what he was doing. _'Wait, am I thinking of bringing Naruto back here? How would he take that? Would he even come back? Or would he think I'm some kind of pervert?' _He cringed again as he imagined Kakashi and Jiyra. He shrugged and continued on. He really had been meaning to tidy this place anyway. It really had absolutely nothing to do with his thoughts of dragging Naruto back to his apartment and ravishing him. No; nothing like that at all.

He also realised he had no idea where he was taking the blonde. They hadn't got that far when the she-devil and the scarecrow had interrupted. He couldn't take him to the ramen stall; not enough effort. He couldn't take him to the new big restaurant across town either; that'd be far too obvious. _'Maybe a picnic?' _He looked out the window and smiles, _'Well the weather has been good for it.' _He can't help but go back to wondering if that would make things far too obvious, but he doesn't dwell on it long. _'Yea, a picnic is a perfect idea', _he smiles again and sets to filling a basket of food.

Naruto shifted slightly as he stood before a large mirror. He knew Neji was perfect for this sort of thing – though scarily brutally honest – and knew there was nowhere else he couldn't have gone. He saw the prodigy look him up and down, shake his head and tut then say, "I trust you were not planning on wearing that?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Good"

The blonde let out a sigh of relief.

"Because it looks like a giant orange vomited on you"

Yep, brutally honest. Naruto stared at him dumbly – it hadn't been Neji's best line, and the blonde was oddly surprised – before replying, "But I like orange."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that." Neji shuddered slightly as he remember Naruto's old outfit. At least the black and orange didn't look just as bad; and there wasn't just as much orange, though still far too much for the older ninja's liking. However, he knew he'd be able to work with the blonde. It wouldn't be too hard to find Naruto an outfit that was both casual yet stunning. From the way the blonde had stuttered a half arsed excuse at him, he knew the blonde was going on one of those 'dates that's not a date.' He rolled his eyes, and pulled open the cupboard. "Why don't we try these few outfits first?" He grinned as Naruto cringed at the word 'few'.

Yamato threw open the curtains and smiled. The sun blazed through his window, light playing across his now tidy living room. Thankfully, the weather had stayed good. He'd be able to go along with his picnic idea. He gulped slightly, finally feeling a bit nervous about the date. He hadn't really had time to think of it before, but now he could feel the little butterflies break free and wreak havoc in his stomach. He wondered briefly if a nice drink of bug spray would help, but he wasn't sure if that'd be pesticide or suicide. _'I swear my thoughts get weirder every day.' _He quickly got washed and dressed.

Getting dressed is not easy, of course. The captain stared at his usually Junín uniform – as he was in the process of putting it on – and realised he would look like an idiot. He went over to his cupboard and found some 'casual' clothes that he couldn't remember ever wearing. Pulling out a pair of black jeans he quickly pulled them on, then continued to look for a top. He finally found a t-shirt in one of the drawers that would do. The fact that it stated 'Nothing is as easy as it looks' made him smile. Apart from the black writing the t-shirt was a plain white, and fit quite nicely. He threw a black shirt over it, just in case it got colder. You always have to think about these things. Weather is the biggest prankster on the planet. He grabbed the basket and made his way to the training grounds.

He was glad he'd left the shirt open. The sun was beating down on him as he ran towards Nar- the grounds. He knew he was sweating slightly as he arrived. He slowed down and halted as he spotted Naruto standing under the shade of a tree. He knew his mouth was slowly ajar, and was glad he wasn't close enough for the blonde to see. He looked the younger man up and down and shook his head, _'He looks –_

"Stunning", he breathed.

_A/N – All thoughts and comments in this chapter are not mine. Their Yamato's. It's not my fault he has odd thoughts. Honestly. *looks around nervously*_

_This took forever -.- but I'm happy with it ^.^_


	9. Nothing Is As Easy As It Looks

_A/N – Again, sorry for the slow update. _

_I don't own Naruto or its characters. I'm just having fun with them ^_^ lol_

**Nothing Is As Easy As It Looks**

Naruto blushed as he saw the slightly flustered captain make his way across the training fields. He could feel the blood rush to his face as he admired the captain's outfit. He was sure he had never seen Yamato in anything other than his uniform – except for in the random fantasies in his head. He gulped as he realised that Yamato – although managing to look a lot less flustered – was looking Naruto up and down as he got closer. He felt the heat as his face burned even brighter than he believed was physically possible. Yamato smiled down at him, "Naruto."

The blonde gulped again and mentally begged his face to go back to at least a normalish colour. He also mentally thanked the wonder that is Neji Hyuga. He knew Neji loved the outfit and the simplicity of it still surprised him – he half expected Neji to pull out some glamorous suit or something ridiculously flashy, just because he knew Naruto would be too scared to say no if he said it was perfect. The black jeans clung to his hips and flared out slightly as they travelled down. He didn't want something too baggy or too tight. He wore an aqua marine shirt – he had scowled at Neji when he mentioned his eyes, much like the shop keeper, but was relieved when he hadn't forced anything baby blue onto him – over a tight charcoal tank top.

"Hey Yamato" Naruto finally managed to say, mentally kicking himself at the slight squeak, "So what are we doing today?"

The captain decided that teasing Naruto about that wonderful little squeak he heard could wait until later. Right now he had to 'dine him and wine him' as Sakura had so eloquently put the last time they spoke. _'Damn she-devil… and just what the hell were her and Kakashi going on about yesterday?' _Yamato was brought back to the world of the living as a hand was waved in front of his face.

"Hello? Earth to Yamato, do you copy?" Naruto laughed and the captain swatted his hand away laughing.

"Sorry Naruto. I was a bit distracted. You look good." Yamato was happy to note the insane flush, which the blonde had just managed to get rid of, came back full flush. He was also quite pleased with himself that he managed to say that without stuttering an excuse or making it sound pervy.

"Thanks captain. You look great too." He had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing as Naruto gulped, reading the slogan on his t-shirt. He had never given it much thought when he bought it, but now he was damn glad he did. If it could get Naruto to blush like that, he may end up wearing it all the bloody time. Or at least until Naruto was his. Yes, he did plan on making Naruto suffer a little. It was a more interesting way to get him back over the whole Sai thing.

"I thought seeing as the weathers been pretty good we could go for a picnic." He couldn't help but smile as he saw Naruto face light up, his blue eyes full of excitement.

"Really? I've never been on a picnic before! Unless you count the times eating here as a picnic." He cocked his head to the side, obviously trying to decide if that did count or not.

"No Naruto, eating here didn't count as a picnic", he smiled as the young man beamed up at him, "Why don't we head over to the park? The sun is usually good there… Naruto?" the blonde had run off in that general direction the moment he said park, shouting something unintelligible. He shook his head and sighed as he followed the, as always, hyperactive ninja.

Yamato let out a sigh of relief as he caught up with the blonde in the park, who was bouncing up and down randomly, "I found a good spot!"

It was a good spot. The large tree stood proudly, somewhere to get some shade if the sun became too much, '_Or to shelter if it rains'. _Yamato silently prayed that it didn't rain. Last thing he needed was the weather to ruin his date. He could do that quite well on his own. _'Raining gives you an excuse to invite him back to yours.' _Yamato silently put down the basket and spread out a blanket for the two to sit and dutifully ignored his last thought. _'Also a great excuse to get naked.' _The captain groaned as he sat down.

"What's up?" And of course Naruto had heard him.

He grinned up at the young man, "Nothing Naruto. Come on and get something to eat."

Naruto promptly sat down beside Yamato, trying not to drool as a mountain of food was placed onto the blanket. His thoughts ranged somewhere between _'How the hell did that all fit into that small basket?' _and _'Must not leap on Yamato. Not yet anyway.' _He settled for an, unfortunately, girlish squeak, hugging the man until he couldn't breathe, and then stuffing his face. Yamato felt mildly confused and dazed, but wasn't about to complain. _'Complain at Naruto touching me? No way'. _

The brunette smiled as Naruto finally fell back on the blanket and stretched, his tank top pulling up slightly. He couldn't help letting his gaze fall there, nor did he notice nervous blue eyes watching him in return. The sun danced lightly on the golden skin. It almost made it look like it was glowing and Yamato had to remind himself were he was, and the torture he'd promised, before he let himself devour that skin. Naruto, on the other hand, was very aware part of the seal was showing. Of course, Yamato had seen it before, but he'd never stared at it, _'had he?'_ The blonde shook his head and decided to let it go, convincing himself that the captain was staring at something else.

Yamato managed to pull himself out of the gutter long enough to actually speak to the blonde. After all, it would be a little pointless if he just fed the other man and said nothing. "It really is a nice day today." Unfortunately, our dear captain was very, very bad at small talk.

Naruto chuckled at this realisation, "Definitely. Sun, food and good company." He noticed the captain smile and blush slightly. _'I think he might be more nervous than me.' _He giggled at the thought. Yamato cocked an eyebrow. "What?" Naruto tried to say defensively. The fact he was still giggling didn't help his 'I wasn't thinking of anything funny at all' defence. Yamato decided that this was a very good opportunity to tease the hell out of the blonde.

Naruto stared wide eyed up at the older ninja who was suddenly straddling his waist. "Eh… hi…" he managed to stutter out nervously as Yamato grinned down at him. Thankfully, most of the young children weren't about anymore, and the rest were already hiding traumatised by previous encounters of said grin. Naruto gulped.

"So, care to tell me what was so funny?" The captain calmly asked. The blonde stared, his face beginning to burn as he willed his body to calm down. He could already feel his stomach flipping as heat began to pool lower. He couldn't remember if he'd ever had anyone this close to him before, and if he had, he certainly wasn't being pinned down by them. He could feel a lump in his throat and his mouth go dry as the captain leaned down towards him. Naruto had dreamed of this moment, well, he'd dreamed of a lot of moments. _'I wonder if he'd like me to call him captain all the time?' _He mentally shook his head and focused. He still wasn't sure if the captain was going to kiss him or kill him, _'Damn that grin.'_

"Well?" Naruto wondered desperately what to say. He couldn't say he was thinking of someone else while he was out with the captain that just would not go well. He couldn't tell him that he was laughing at him._ 'I could say something funny about myself', _he mused, before grinning as the right memory popped up.

"I was thinking about the time Sakura and Ino forced me to dress up in a pink belly top and hot pants." Naruto smirked as he watched what he had just said sink in. Yamato had simply looked blankly at him, before turning white, then blushing with his eye twitching through out the whole thing. The blonde knew it made no sense to the situation, but he also knew that Yamato wasn't going to register anything other than the clothes he just described. He bit his lip to stop from grinning when he saw the captains eyes glaze over.

"Hot pants…?"

"Yes, hot pants."

Yamato focused back in and looked at the blonde below him. "You still got them?"

Naruto choked feeling the heat rise to his face, yet again. _'Dammit! Another point to Yamato', _the blonde thought as the man grinned down at him.

"I'm kidding Naruto," he said as he looked around. "Hmm, it's getting a little dark." He looked back down and saw the younger mans eyes drop, obviously a little disappointed. Yamato smirked, "Why don't we go back to mine for some coffee?"

He couldn't help it. The moment those cerulean orbs widened and a smile beamed up at him, he just had to. He pinned Naruto's arms down, leaned in and kissed him. It was quick – too quick for his liking – but he didn't want to scare the blonde off. He slowly pulled back, gently pulling on Naruto's bottom lip before getting up. Naruto licked his lips careful before accepting the captain's hand up. "We should get moving, before it rains."

Naruto nodded dumbly, his mind unable to create a coherent sentence other than, _'He kissed me!' _and silently followed the Yamato back to his apartment.

_A/N – sorry it's a little shorter than usual. I'll make the next one longer!_


	10. A Leap of Faith

_A/N – I hope this chapter makes up for the previous one being so short.  
_

**A Leap of Faith**

Naruto shifted nervously on the couch, listening to the sound of the boiling kettle. He gazed around the room that appeared to be devoid of everything except the couch he was sitting on, a handcrafted coffee table, another chair and a few paintings on the wall. He realised it resembled his own – minus the mess of clothes and trash flung about the place. Thankfully there were no longer any rude or nasty inscriptions over his apartment any more. Last time he cleaned it, it stayed cleaned. Naruto shook his head, _'Comparing apartments is not going to get me any where. I have no idea what I'm doing.' _He cringed at that thought and heard a low rumble of thunder.

Yamato heard the rain begin to spit against the window and a low rumble of thunder and was silently thankful he had brought Naruto back here. He threw his shirt over a stool in the kitchen and began preparing tea, trying his best to ignore his own thoughts. All of which involved a certain blonde in different 'positions'. He rubbed his hands over his face and sighed. He honestly had no idea what he was going to do. _'Anything I do will probably terrify him,' _he thought glumly. He quickly rustled around for some mugs and poured the tea, knowing that he may as well get out there and calm the blonde down. He looked through the kitchen door and saw Naruto sitting stock still. _'Oh the joy of awkward conversations.'_

The blonde heard the captain rustling in the kitchen as the kettle finally settled and wondered why the man had brought him here. A thousand wonderfully dirty images came to mind but, of course, that worried Naruto. _'I've only ever kissed another guy. I wonder what he's planning.' _As Naruto got lost in his own thoughts Yamato arrived with the tea. He couldn't help but chuckle at the scene in front of him. Normally, he'd be worried if someone was lost in their own mind for that long, but the random shivers and drooling made him think twice about snapping the blonde out of it. Of course, it is also standard for Junín's to get easily bored and distracted, which is why Yamato found himself shaking the younger man out of his daze. That and he found the blonde's blush adorable.

The flustered blonde grinned sheepishly while taking his tea from the older man, "Sorry about that Captain, I was in a world of my own there." He noted Yamato's lack of shirt, said a quiet 'thank you' and pulled off his own shirt that he'd been sitting sweating in for the past half an hour.

The brunette chuckled and couldn't help but wonder why Naruto kept calling him 'captain'. Was he trying to remind the man of his position, or _'maybe he's just testing the waters?' _Yamato shook his head and chuckled. "You can call me Yamato you know."

Naruto went another wonderful shade of red and felt his stomach flip as he grinned back at the man, "Of course Yamato."

The awkward silence that followed was mind numbingly boring, in Yamato's opinion anyway. Naruto had calmed down but still had a faint red tinge to his skin, and the captain was worried that if he said something he'd give the younger man a heart attack. _'Maybe I was a little quick to ask him back here.' _He frowned at that thought. _'Why did I bring him back here?' _He shook his head realising that sitting here like an idiot was probably making Naruto more nervous rather than less. Of course, it also didn't help that Yamato had absolutely no idea of the concept of 'small talk' therefore tended to put his foot in his own mouth.

"Have you seen Sai lately?"

Naruto cringed at the question, and reluctantly looked round to see his captain cringing as well, _'At least he realised it was a stupid question.' _He looked curiously at the man for any signs that screamed 'I still want to horribly murder that little raven haired bastard' and when none came forth, he decided he may as well answer.

"Nah, I haven't seen him in ages. Think the last time I saw him was when Kakashi and Sakura…" the blonde trailed off then looked at the man who was now smirking in that oh so terrifying way. Unfortunately, spending time with the captain meant that Naruto knew there were different degrees to** that** grin, and what each of them meant. Yamato suspected something. And if Yamato suspected something, that was something to talk about. Naruto inwardly cheered, _'Yay! No more awkwardness!'_

"Wana tell me what you're thinking?" the captain cocked his head to the side and saw bright blue orbs twinkling at him, eager to hear his theory. It was a stupid thing to talk about at a moment like this, but Yamato really didn't have anything else to go with.

"I had made Kakashi keep an eye on Sai", he paused when the blonde choked and glared at him, but continued before Naruto could say anything, "Because he appeared to be attempting to murder me through telekinesis or at least was acting on the old saying 'if looks could kill'".

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at that, doubling over as he imagined Sai hitting the captain with a tree, or the captain spontaneously combusting. Said captain rolled his eyes and hit Naruto across the back of the head. "Oi! That hurt!"

"I hardly touched you", he sighed and grabbed the squirming blonde, pinning the younger mans back against his chest. "Do you want to hear the rest of the story, or is it already past your bed time?"

Naruto felt his face flush and mumbled something that sounded like "I'm not a baby" but Yamato wasn't sure, so ignored him. He also ignored the answers he would like to give to that statement such as 'If you were a baby would I have you pinned against me' or 'Nah you're more like a toddler, so maybe some spanking could sort that.'

"Anyway, it wasn't long after that that the whole Kakashi verse Sakura incident happened." Yamato looked at the younger man curiously and had to stifle a laugh as he saw realisation dawn on the blonde's features and the tips of his ears turn pink when Naruto ducked his head to hide the blush.

"So you think something happened with Kakashi and Sai?" Naruto asked, turning his head slightly to see the mock surprise on Yamato's face.

"Ah, so you do catch on quickly."

"Quicker than you do anyway", the irritated blonde muttered. Of course, our dear captain did hear this comment; he simply chose to ignore it and squeezed the younger man against him again, reminding Naruto where he was. The small yelp he let out just made the captain happier. _'Or hornier, which one is it?' _Yamato's question was answered when he felt heat begin to pool at the pit of his stomach. He gulped slightly, considering letting the blonde go, _'but what would be the fun of that?'_

Naruto shivered as he felt the captain's breath against his neck, quickly replaced with small kisses. The blonde's breath hitched when Yamato gently bit his earlobe before continuing his journey along the younger mans jaw. He placed a chaste kiss at the corner of Naruto's mouth and grinned when he saw the blonde's eyelids droop. There was a flash of lightning and Yamato quickly spun Naruto so the younger man was facing him, and crushed the blonde's lips against his own. He heard Naruto moan and felt his arousal grow. He grabbed the back of Naruto's head, pressing himself harder against him and bit down on the younger mans bottom lip. The blonde gasped at the sudden forcefulness and the captain took this opportunity to slide his tongue into the others mouth. He moaned as their tongues clashed, tasting the sweetness of tea mixed with the coppery taste of blood.

Naruto whimpered as the brunettes erection brushed briefly against his own, barely noticing being pushed back onto the sofa. Naruto felt intoxicated; The feel of Yamato's tongue gliding against his own, the strong hands gently pushing his shoulders back, the warm body hovering mere inches away from his own. He felt his head hit the pillow, groaning as Yamato pried himself away from abused lips and back to the younger mans glistening throat. Naruto felt a hand glide gently up his shirt, fingertips brushing against his side as a thumb dipped below his trouser line teasingly. He bucked up against the captain, begging for more, when the brunette suddenly pulled back. Naruto opened his mouth to protest but was cut off as his shirt was pulled up over his head and suddenly lips were back on his. A hand pinned his hip down as another pressed against his inner thigh.

Naruto gasped, clutching uselessly to the back of Yamato's shirt. He felt unsure of what to do, knowing he couldn't leave everything up to the captain. He decided starting simply would be the best idea, and began to trail small kisses along the older mans jaw line, mimicking what Yamato had done to him. He ran his tongue behind the captain's earlobe and almost squealed in delight as he felt the man shudder against him, moaning. Yamato could practically feel Naruto's grin against his ear and let his hand slip an inch closer to its goal, silently cheering as he heard the blondes' breath hitch along with an odd gurgle. He felt what was left of his control slowly begin to melt away as the blonde continued to tease that spot, and firm hands rand down his torso, brushing beneath the bottom of his shirt. Feeling Naruto's hands against his skin nearly drove him over the edge. His self control seemed to fly out the window as he suddenly pulled back, ripping off his own shirt. Naruto cheered inwardly that the captain had finally taken the hint. Yamato pressed himself down against Naruto, moaning at the feel of skin against skin. He quickly captured the blondes lips, stifling the younger mans groans as their erections rubbed together.

Naruto felt like he was going to explode, the friction was driving him crazy. He had imagined Yamato touching him; had imagined this happening. His arousal ached against the captains. He felt like he was suffocating, gasping to desperately catch his breath. He grabbed Yamato's hand and it took all he had not to immediately shove it between his legs. He slowly pushed the captain's hand to the top of his trousers, silently begging the older man to either touch him or stop before he was too far gone. Yamato pulled back and looked down at the flustered blonde, drinking in the sight before him. He watched as Naruto chest heaved, trying to regain control of his breathing. Teeth gently chewed on a swollen lip, aggravating a small crimson cut. He inwardly chuckled at the red tinged cheeks before becoming absorbed in the cerulean orbs resting under heavy eyelids. Yamato felt the lust radiating of the younger man and felt his own arousal throb. He quickly kissed the blondes swollen lips before swiftly moving down his throat, gently biting his collarbone.

Naruto squirmed, enjoying the feel of lips teasing across his chest. Yamato, knowing he had distracted Naruto, lazily moved his hand down between the younger's mans legs. Naruto's breath hitched as he felt the captain squeeze him gently and flick his tongue over his nipple. The blonde couldn't help but grind himself into Yamato's steady hand, feeling his head spin as the older man simply squeezed again. Naruto whimpered slightly, completely unable to voice his needs as his mind itself was beyond coherent thought. He thrust against the hand again, and groaned as Yamato began to rub him slowly throw the tight material. The captain grinned down at Naruto as the younger man threw his head back, grinding himself into Yamato's hand. He decided he should probably stop teasing the blonde. Watching Naruto writhe and moan was driving him over the edge, and it was all he could do to not take the blonde then and there.

He quickly undid the zipper on Naruto trousers, relishing in another quiet whimper than emanated from him. He slipped his hand inside the others boxer, gently trailing his fingers along the blondes length. He felt Naruto's fingers curl into his hair as the other hand clutched at his waist. He heard the younger man murmur and quietly gasp as Yamato settled on a pace, careful not to let his own excitement take over. Of course, listening to Naruto whimper and moan really wasn't helping the captain. He watched in awe as Naruto threw his head back when he reached his peak, before slumping back against the sofa. The blondes ragged breathing and flustered appearance brought Yamato back to reality. His own breathing was still haggard as he willed his body to calm down. Naruto gazed up at him, eyes half open, "Captain".

Yamato suddenly bolted up from where he sat. Naruto watched as the captains attempt to impersonate a fish as his mouth opened and closed raptly, before the man suddenly turned and all but ran from the apartment. Naruto, sobering up slightly, suddenly pounced up staring open mouthed at the open door. A million thoughts flew through Naruto's head. Unfortunately, the most coherent one was _'Yamato does realise he just ran out of his own apartment, right?'_

_A/N – Forgive me for the crap ending. I wasn't even sure how I was going to end this/ how far I was going to go. Was gonna quit a while back and make you all wait longer for something, but I thought I'd make up for my lack of updates. _

_I was also worried about how moronic I'd sound while I attempted to write this. I believe I succeeded quite well. I am, of course, fantastic at being idiotic ^_^_


	11. Stupidity

_A/N – Hooray for another update. Sorry I've taken so long. Just didn't feel like writing for a while._

**Stupidity **

Yamato finally arrived home and sighed as he opened the door. His clothes felt frozen against his skin. Of course that was his own fault for letting himself get completely drenched before remembering to make a wooden shell around himself. He felt like an idiot. He was an idiot. He shouldn't have run out on Naruto like that, there were other ways to control the situation. _'Yea, like keeping your hands to yourself.' _Yamato cringed at his own inner musings, knowing that he couldn't have controlled himself at all last night. If he hadn't have ran, he probably would have taken Naruto right there and then.

The captain began to shiver and he knew he had to get home and out of his still slightly damp and very cold clothes. As soon as he got home his eyes immediately fell on the empty couch. He shook his head and stripped off before jumping into a scalding hot shower, forcing the chill out of his body. He tried to ignore his own thoughts, listening to the beat of the water against the tiles below him. He knew this mornings training was going to be a nightmare. He just hoped that it would get a little better through out the day.

Of course, that didn't happen. Actually, it happened the other way round. Instead of getting better, it got worse. The morning had looked promising. The blonde wasn't really speaking to him, but the blush when he'd arrived at the training grounds seemed like a good thing at the time. After that they'd spent a few minutes impersonating gold fish as neither of them could find the right thing to say before Kakashi interrupted and training began. Being focused on something made things a little easier to deal with, and Sai was thankfully no longer glaring at either of them. Although, the way Sai stared at the copy ninja was quite intriguing.

At lunch Yamato grinned as Kakashi disappeared off in the direction of a certain raven haired artist. He knew this was the perfect opportunity to talk to Naruto, now that both of them had got over the initial awkwardness. Naruto still blushed as the captain made his way towards him, and Yamato knew that his assumption had been wrong. He watched as the blonde shook his head then turned startling sapphire orbs his way. "Hi captain."

"Hi Naruto", the older man heard himself dumbly reply. "Listen Naruto, about last night…"

"Its okay captain, I understand."

"You do?" Yamato looked at the blonde feeling relief begin to set in. He'd worried about how to word it to Naruto without sounding like an idiot, _'or a pervert.' _The captain shook his head, and smiled, "I was worried I'd upset you."

A small smile stretched across the younger mans features, "Not at all. I'm used to it."

Yamato frowned slightly, noticing the tightness of the blondes smile, "Used to it?"

"Of course. After all, I am the Jinchuuriki. I can hardly expect people to forget that."

Yamato could do nothing but stare. He silently willed his brain to catch up with what Naruto had just said to him, but he couldn't seem to digest it. "I… What?" Naruto smiled and turned to make his way back to the training grounds, happy to see Kakashi approaching. The captain snapped out of his daze and grabbed Naruto by the shoulder, spinning him around to face him. "You think that's what happened?! That I didn't want you because of the damn Kyubi?!"

"Then why did you run out?" The blonde snapped back. He'd tried to hide the hurt he felt. He tried to ignore the fact that he'd sat on that sofa for hours hoping that Yamato would come back; hoping that maybe Yamato had just forgotten something, or just needed a few minutes to think. Hell he would have been happier if the captain had just come back and told him to get out of his home. He just wanted Yamato to come back.

The captain saw the black circles around Naruto's eyes. He should have noticed them earlier. He should have noticed a lot of things earlier. Before he could reply Naruto wrenched himself out of the other mans grip and stomped back on to the training grounds. He put everything he had into training, trying to ignore the world around him. Well, more like trying to ignore one person. He didn't care if anyone noticed. He didn't care about the look Kakashi threw him as he left the training grounds or the sad look across Yamato's face. He ignored Sai's attempts to catch his attention and easily lost anyone else who tried to speak to him. That was until he ran into Shikamaru and Kiba. That's when he felt the tears that were already running down his face.

Yamato stared in the direction he'd seen Naruto take off in. He knew the blonde wasn't going straight home, so he was reluctant to follow. He could hardly believe that Naruto truly believed he would be as cold hearted at that. _'Then again you forced him and Sai to at least be civil, and when they weren't you scared him enough to make him pretend he didn't hate the replacement.' _The captain sighed, nodded to Kakashi and quickly took off after Naruto. The younger man was surprisingly good at disappearing when he really wanted to be left alone, but he also knew there would be at least one person Naruto would run into out this way. At least he hoped so. He stopped suddenly, an odd sound interrupting his thoughts.

Yamato followed the strange thumping sound that was supposedly music and shook his head when he saw the leather jacket and mop of brown hair that was nodding in time with it. He heard something that sounded like 'I'm insane, got no brain', and found himself nodding in agreement before quickly shaking his head and grabbing the young mans shoulder. For being part of a clan that supposedly has the best noses in the world, it seemed quite easy to sneak up on Kiba Inuzuka and scare the living crap out of him. And no, our dear captain did not find this hilarious and was not doing everything he could to stop himself from laughing when Kiba squealed and fell off the bench. "What the fuck Shino?"

Kiba spun and blanched as he realised that for once it wasn't Shino. Of course it just had to be a Junín, and even worse an ANBU. Of course the glare he was receiving did nothing to dull the young Inuzuka's fear of team 7's new captain. "Uh … hi"

Yamato rolled his eyes. He had to know if Kiba had seen or spoken to Naruto. Of course, he could have just went to the blondes apartment, _'and get punched in the face', _he thought as he reflected on Naruto's behaviour to him through out the day. He was pissed. He was pissed at the captain for being a monumental twat. "Have you seen Naruto?"

"Uh… no?"

The captain clenched his teeth together, trying to force back the growl – and string of swear words – threatening to fall from his mouth when he heard someone clear their throat.

Shikamaru was sitting quietly on the bench his companion had toppled off, with his arms resting behind his head. Yamato was rather impressed; he hadn't even noticed the shadow user. "Yes, we have seen Naruto."

"We have?" Kiba cocked his head to the side.

Shikamaru sighed and opened his eyes, glaring at his friend, "Yes, we have."

Kiba shook his head. "Fair enough." The captain felt his own head cock to the side as the younger man turned to face him again. "Yea we saw Naruto. He was heading back to his apartment." Yamato tensed slightly at the barely controlled anger in the Inuzuka's voice. He was surprised again when the shadow user chuckled.

"What the hell are you laughing at baka?"

"Take it easy Kiba." Shikamaru stretched and turned his head. "Naruto's a little upset right now you see, and Kiba here is an idiot."

"I am not an idiot! He's the idiot."

Yamato's eyes widened slightly, realising that Naruto must have told them something. However, he couldn't contain the twitch of his lips as a small smile appeared. He saw Kiba's anger boil over, evidently getting the wrong idea, "You know, it's nice to see someone protecting him for a change."

Kiba's threat fell from his mind as he stared at the older man. Shikamaru simply smiled, "Yes it is, isn't it?"

The brunette felt his eyes wander back and forth between the two, feeling like he had just missed something important. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Whatever. Just don't hurt him again."

"I never intended to." Yamato smiled and turned to leave.

"He should be home by now you know." The shadow user stretched again, and closed his eyes.

"Thank you." Yamato quickly disappeared back towards Naruto's apartment.

"What the hell was that about?" Shikamaru chuckled at his friend, knowing Kiba hated being left out.

"He really didn't mean to hurt Naruto." The other man sighed and sat back down on the bench, picking up his headphones that had lay forgotten on the ground.

"Yeah, I figured as much myself."

"Good." Shikamaru stood and began walking home; secretly happy it was in the same direction as Naruto's apartment. Kiba just shook his head sticking his headphones back on. The shadow user simply smirked as he heard the music beginning to thump again and placed his arms behind his head, eyes closing again as he followed a path memorised by heart. He was almost surprised when he stopped outside Naruto's apartment, eyes slowly opening. He couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips as he saw the captain standing frozen at the door, hand raised as if to knock.

"I'd try the window if I were you." Yamato simply nodded his head and went round the apartment, hardly even realising that someone had spoke to him. Shikamaru chuckled and shook his head, continuing his journey, "So troublesome."

Yamato sat on the window sill, watching the younger man sleep. He had always wondered why Naruto slept on his stomach rather than his back. It didn't seem comfortable. The captain sighed, annoyed that his mind kept wandering and slipped quietly into the younger mans room. He walked slowly over to the bed and began to pull the covers up over the blonde when Naruto suddenly turned. Yamato cringed, hoping he hadn't woken the other up, and then suddenly blushed as he noticed the strain against the front of Naruto's boxers. He quickly draped the blanket back over Naruto and decided it would probably be best to leave. _'Or should I stay?' _He quickly looked back at the blonde sprawled on the bed and felt his own boxers start to tighten, _'Yep, I should leave.'_

The captain gazed back down at the blonde before quickly shaking himself and heading back towards the window. It was bad enough he'd confused the hell out of the younger man, and evidently hurt his feelings. If Naruto woke up to find him here in the state that both of them were in, _'at least Naruto's is an unconscious reaction'_, he'd probably kill the older man on the spot. Yamato was half way through the window hen he heard Naruto moan. He felt himself freeze as his head slowly turned back to the man behind him.

_A/N – Sorry if the meeting with Shikamaru and Kiba was odd. I just felt like including some more characters. And the bit of the end might have seemed odd after all that happened, but the chapter has been a little angsty, and you really can't stop your body reacting to dreams ^_^_


	12. Good Morning Good Morning

_A/N – Enjoy ^_^_

_**Warnings: **__There be smut ahead_

**Good Morning, Good Morning**

Yamato froze when he heard the rustling of bed sheets, fearing he had woken the younger man. When Naruto moaned he felt his legs turn to jelly. He knew he should be leaving, but he felt himself turn back round, back towards the blonde that was sprawled haphazardly on the bed. Naruto had flipped on to his stomach, swinging his leg over the side of the bed in the process and kicking the covers off the bed entirely. The captain wasn't sure whether to be thankful or not now that he couldn't see how good Naruto's dream was, but he was definitely thankful that he regained a little bit of his own self control back. Not that it was much good to him now that he was once again standing over the half naked man he'd been fantasising about.

Now he was faced with a new dilemma; to wake Naruto or not to wake Naruto? He knew Naruto wasn't exactly a morning person – except on important missions, but he had a feeling Naruto hardly slept on those – but he was unsure how dangerous waking him could be. This is why, as he rolled back over, Naruto woke to the sight of Yamato with one wooden arm and a kunai in his other hand.

"… Eh?"

"Ah, you're awake." The blonde watched as the captain changed his arm back to normal, looking sheepishly down at the kunai in his hand before quickly putting it back in its pouch.

Naruto blinked and continued to stare at slightly guilty looking grin on the captain's face, trying to figure out if he was still asleep or not. He felt awake, but that made things even odder. Rubbing his eyes and stretching Naruto decided that continuing to ignore the man was his best course of action. Of course, as soon as he rolled over, he realised the reason the Captain was simply staring at him. _'Pervert', _he thought yet he felt himself throb slightly at the idea. _'I guess that means he is at least attracted to me'. _Naruto felt himself blush at he raised his eyes to meet Yamato's.

The Captain felt the last thread of restraint snap when those cerulean orbs meet his own dark eyes. He grabbed the younger man and pulled him into a deep kiss, hands gripping onto the blonde's hips. Shocked, Naruto momentarily forgets how to breathe. Yamato is more than happy to fix the problem by groping Naruto's ass, forcing him to gasp. The Captain slid his tongue inside, moaning as the blonde shifts beneath him.

Naruto's breath hitched as he felt Yamato's erection push against his hip, his skin tingling as the Captain ran his hand down the blonde's side. He grabs the other mans hips, desperate for more friction. The Captain grins as he pulls back, pulling off Naruto's wrinkled t-shirt and the top of his Junín uniform*, and happily attacks the blondes mouth again, chests pressed hard together.

Yamato ran kisses down along Naruto's throat, nipping at the collar bone before running his tongue up along the side of the blonde's neck and sucking on his earlobe, enjoying the small sounds emitting from the younger man. Naruto bucked against the man above him, his body trembling against Yamato's, begging for more. He groaned as the Captain pushed his legs further apart, pressing himself firmly against Naruto. He could have chuckled at the irony of being back in this position so soon, but Naruto choose that moment to buck against him again, turning his chuckle into a moan of pleasure.

Naruto ran his hands down the Captain back, digging his nails in when Yamato sucks gently at his ear lobe. Yamato pushed himself back enough to let his hand slide between them. The blonde moaned as the brunettes hand cupped him, palm running smoothly along his length. He rocked against the hand whimpering slightly as he felt his arousal throb.

The Captain felt his own arousal throb at the small noises Naruto was emitting. He pulled the blonde in to a kiss, swallowing another moan, when Naruto loosened his grip on the Captains hip. Yamato gasped as he felt fingers flutter across the top of his trousers, dipping in slightly at the middle. He pulled back slightly, to again revel in the sight of a flustered blonde underneath him.

Yamato crushed his lips back against Naruto's, slipping his hand down the front of Naruto's boxers. He moaned as he felt the blonde fumble with his fly*, mimicking the Captains moves as he slid his hand inside. Stroking in rhythm with each other, Naruto can feel himself throb, the heat pooling in the pit of his stomach. Hearing the Captain moan into his shoulder, Naruto flicked his tongue across Yamato's ear, and started running kisses down the man's neck and throat.

Naruto threw his head back with a cry as he reached his peak, Yamato following close after. Panting they lay side by side, the afterglow lulling them into a drowsy slumber. Naruto snuggled into the Captain's chest, contented. Yamato wound his arm around the others waist, his head resting gently atop the blonde head. He let his eyelids fall closed, smiling as he heard the younger mans breathing begin to even out.

**Meanwhile:**

"I'm bored."

"You're always bored. Why don't you go train with your team?"

"Nah, they're off doing their own thing; separately."

"You sound a little disappointed. Those two would have been obvious."

"True. We definitely did put together more colourful characters."

"Yamato went over to Naruto's place right."

"Yep. That's what that lazy git said before buggering off."

"…"

"What?"

"I have a camera."

People slowly backed away as the grinning girls made their way down the street, currently giving Yamato's record for traumatised children an ass kicking.

**Meanwhile:**

"I smell a disturbance in the force!"

"What the fuck are you talkin' about?"

"Can't you smell it?"

"All I can smell is dog."

"Watch it Shadow Boy, or have you forgotten where my knee is?"

"So troublesome."

**Mean**_**while**_**:**

"Could you please stay still? It's hard to draw you if you keep moving."

"It's not my fault you're taking so long. If I had of known I would've just went for a nap."

"I've already painted you sleeping."

"Well that isn't creepy at all."

"…"

"Can I at least have my Ichi Ichi book?"

"No."

**Back to the plot:**

Yamato had been woken in many horrible ways. That was one of the things he did not miss from his time with the ANBU. He'd been woken up by explosions, kunai being thrown at him, kicked in the head. Waking to the sound of girls giggling and seeing a large flash even behind his still closed eyelids somehow seemed infinitely worse. _'Giggling girls and a flash… shit!' _Bolting upright, he was just in time to see a pink and blonde blur fly out the window. The second thing he noticed was the muffled laughter beside him. Peering down he saw Naruto's head buried in the pillow, trying to stifle the laughter that was threatening to become an outright roar.

Naruto had woken up the moment the girls entered the room. He could have chased them off or he could have woken Yamato… but what would be the fun in that. It had been hard to conceal his grin. So hard in fact he was sure it had been splitting his face. He'd have to make sure the Captain never saw the picture. Seeing the look of absolute horror on Sakura and Ino's face though when Yamato woke up was definitely worth it. Now though, he was struggling not to let the laughter break lose – and finding it very difficult to breathe – in fear of Yamato's wrath. Of course, the Captain's Wrath was infinitely funnier since he was still half asleep with his hair sticking up all over the place.

Yamato flipped the blonde, "You were awake weren't you?"

Naruto, biting his lips and feeling his eyes start to water stuttered out his reply, "N-no. Honestly, I-I woke up the s-same t-time as y-you."

"You really are a bad liar, you know that?" Yamato poked Naruto's belly and grinned as the younger man finally burst into a roar of laughter.

The Captain waited until the laughter had dulled down in to the occasional hiccup and giggle, before pretend to sigh, "What ever shall I do with you?" He tugged the younger man to him, kissing him deeply. When he pulled back he could have swore he saw stars. Of course that may have just been the flash from the camera.

…

'_Camera?'_

_A/N – Again sorry I took so long, and that it's short! Also I apologise for my crappy attempt at smut (again). And yes… I did do a filler (and it's still feckin' short). Originally it was because I kinda forgot about Sai and Kakashi and then I got far too many idea's *shrugs* sorry lol_


	13. Hide and Seek

_A/N – Sorry for the lack of updates. Between a dissertation and a presentation I've just been exhausted._

_Note – This story does not follow a time line. It is within Shippuuden, except Naruto is 17. I'm just reminding you because this chapter really does not follow any timeline what so ever._

**Hide and Seek**

Naruto had tried his best to hide the photo from Yamato, he really had. Especially when he saw his own grinning face giving a thumbs up. He didn't know the girls had actually caught that. Unfortunately, Sakura and Ino had decided to make a mountain load of copies. He wouldn't be surprise if the Akatsuki themselves each had their own copy. Granted the look on Itachi's face would be hilarious…

This is why today we find our blonde kitsune hiding in a tree – well, where else would he hide? – behind the training fields. He still had some food left from Sai's "surprise" visit to his airy hiding place, but he was starting to get bored. The Captain hadn't even glanced in the direction of the forest. _'Maybe I hid too well?' _He thought, grinning at the sudden need to scare the living shit out of his beloved Yamato.

Immediately forgetting that he was supposed to be hiding from the enraged ninja he began planning his attack. Jumping down he quietly stalked back through the woods. Well, it would have been quietly if he hadn't been humming The Great Escape theme tune. Sai, who was returning with more food, simply stared as the blonde whizzed past him and shook his head. Whatever Naruto was up to now, he really, _really, _did **not** want to know.

Yamato stared in the direction Naruto had taken off in and sighed. Originally he'd been trying to figure out a way to get the she devils back for waking him up, and then taking a photo. Once he'd seen said photo however those plans changed drastically. He was going to make his little blue eyed fox pay for this one. He was mildly glad that Naruto was avoiding him - even if he was doing a lousy job at hiding - as it gave him time to plan his revenge. Unfortunately Tsunade had sent for him, so it was going to have to wait. And from the look on the blonde's face as he ran off, he might have a little trouble with his plans.

The meeting with Tsunade put further hold on his plans. The Akatsuki had been spotted close by and, unfortunately, they were currently unaware which members they were. Sighing, he went in search for Naruto. He knew the blonde was probably still hiding from him, but he wasn't overly hard to find. If worst came to worst he'd scare one of the Hyuuga's into finding him. _'Not Hinata though. She'd probably faint.'_ He made his way towards Naruto's apartment, and grinned when he found him passed out on the couch in his boxers and t-shirt. The captain swore he couldn't have been away _that _long. He crouched down and gently swept a few golden strands of hair back from the sleeping man's face and smiled softly. He honestly couldn't stay mad at Naruto. That didn't mean he wouldn't get revenge, but he'd consider making it less harsh and terrifying. Yamato shook the blonde to wake him. He briefly wondered what had caused Naruto to fall asleep so quickly, but remembered seeing the blonde pass out from pure boredom before and decided not to ask. "Come on Naruto. We've got work to do."

Naruto stretched and yawned. Completely forgetting that Yamato had vowed revenge on him he simply asked, "What kind of work?"

"Members of the Akatsuki were spotted by a couple of villagers not far from here."

Yamato yelped as a blonde blur collided with him and dragged him out the door. It took him until they were already half way towards the city gates to realise that the blonde blur was in fact Naruto. He briefly wondered if Naruto had remembered to dress before leaving, then remembered the last time he'd forgotten to and happily let the younger man drag him by the back of his shirt through town. It was probably an odd sight, but people should be used to it by now. At least he hoped so. Unfortunately, Naruto had remembered. And from the looks of things may have ingested speed at some point.

Naruto bounced excitedly up and down, turning every so often to see if the rest of the team had arrived. "What's taking them so long?"

Of course to Yamato it sounded like "whastaksolog" so it took a few moments to decipher. "Calm down, they'll be here soon", he said rolling his eyes. _'Patience really is a virtue.'_

Moments later the team arrived – Kakashi, Sai, Sakura, Neji, Hinata and Shikamaru. He could see Naruto still bouncing at his side, now grinning like a maniac as the team assembled at the gates. "About time! Can we go now?"

Again Yamato rolled his eyes, "Okay, okay." He turned towards the team who were waiting confidently for their orders. "Members of the Akatsuki have been spotted near the Reiki Bridge. We do not know who we will be dealing with. It is believed that they have split up, possibly in search of something. We will travel to Reiki Bridge and from there two teams will be formed to search for each member. Understood?"

"Understood"

"Let's go." With that they quickly took off.

It didn't take long to reach the edge of the wood surrounding the bridge. The team spread out, surveying the land before them. There was no sign of any activity, Akatsuki or otherwise, and that was staring to make Yamato feel edgy. He hated when information was wrong, but somehow he knew something wasn't right here; and he wasn't the only one. He saw Kakashi's visible eye narrowing at the apparently vacant plot before them. Neji looked frustrated and Hinata was chewing on her lip as they both pulled back out of the Byakugan. Hinata shook her head as Neji muttered "nothing" and folded his arms across his chest.

"Let's split up. Sakura, Neji, Sai, you three are with me. Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, you go with Yamato. Find out what you can and meet back here."

Naruto knew the drill. It annoyed the hell out of him. He knew it was good to collect information first, but at the same time it seemed pointless. Anytime he got near to the Akatsuki they didn't stop to collect information. Generally they tried to kick his ass and kidnap him.

As if on cue, the ground beneath Naruto's feet crumbled pulling him down. He caught sight of the others tripping and falling before he was pulled into an underground chamber. "Well thanks for that. What a wonderful trap." he said to no one in particular as he hoisted himself off the ground, though the shadow in the corner grinned quite happily. It was a wonderful trap after all. How nice of the little nine tails to notice.

Naruto quickly surveyed the stone labyrinth and sighed. He considered waiting for Yamato to turn up… but like hell that was going to happen. The blonde quickly made his way to the first left and headed in the direction he was sure the others had been pulled down. The shadow quietly followed, and was most definitely not admiring the young man before him.

A few turns later and Naruto gave out a frustrated yell. He was back where he started; he knew he was back in the first chamber. He could still see his ass print where he fell. The shadow chuckled and immediately regretted it as Naruto suddenly spun round, kunai in hand and squinting to see who was hiding in the dark. That's when the blonde was jumped from behind.

"Gah!" he shouted as he tried to break free.

"Chill out, it's only me." A familiar voice said as he was put down. The figure sighed as Naruto spun about squinting into the darkness. "Lost something?"

"You could say that" Naruto gave up and turned to face the shadow wielder. "Someone's down here with us."

"Figures. How troublesome."

Naruto rolled his eyes as Shikamaru scratched his chin in thought before turning and walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"To find the others."

The blonde gaped at him before remembering that was exactly what he'd be doing before he'd heard someone laughing. He quickly caught up with the brunette as he turned down an entry Naruto hadn't noticed last time. They walked in silence before they heard a deep rumbling sound. "Be careful" the lazy ninja said as he stopped dead in his tracks, "These walls keep changing."

Naruto had opened his mouth to reply when the entry before them suddenly closed up and another opened to the left. Sighing Shikamaru turned left and continued walking like this was nothing more than a mildly irritating inconvenience.

"Are you sure we shouldn't turn back?" Naruto asked, starting to feel a little nervous.

"Nah. The way I see it we're being led somewhere and it's probably best just to follow."

The blonde's eyes widened in surprise, but he could see the logic in Shikamaru's answer. One way or another they'd end up exactly where these people wanted them, so it was easier just to follow the paths that appeared before them. The others were probably doing the same thing. After all, Shikamaru had found him. It was only another couple of redirected turns that they ran into a flustered looking raven haired girl shouting at the entry that had just closed. Naruto's mouth fell at the stream of swear words falling from the girls mouth, but he decided to ignore that for now.

"N-naruto! Shikamaru! I thought I'd never find you!"

Hinata shot one last glare at the wall before quickly making her way over to her team mates. "I've been looking for ages. I thought I'd heard someone up ahead when the wall suddenly closed on me."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll catch up with everyone soon enough" Naruto said reassuringly. Hinata smiled weakly and the trio started winding there way through the suddenly smaller and darker tunnels.

"I think we're nearly there." Shikamaru said as he slid along the wall, nodding at the dull light ahead of them. The blonde nodded at him and he could make out the grim line across Hinata's face. None of them knew what was waiting for them and none of them were particularly eager to find out. The team blinked as they stepped out into a brightly lit room and squinted to look around. It looked like someone had been living here, but there was nobody in sight. They counted three more tunnels leading out from the chamber and let out a sigh of relief. Even if the one behind them closed they still had three more exits. Or three more entrances for the others.

They spotted a shadow from the tunnel in front and instinctively grabbed their kunai. And for a second time, Naruto was jumped from behind. The entrance suddenly closed up as the other two tried to reach him. Naruto quickly kicked out behind him and broke free from the others grasp. It was tight but he managed to get round the man, making his way back towards the larger tunnels. He quickly spun round and surveyed the land before him. A shadow emerged from the chambers tunnel and Naruto gaped.

Itachi inwardly smirked as he watched the blonde's fill with surprise and recognition. Then Naruto spoke and completely broke the atmosphere. "You laughed"

There was so much amazement and wonder in that voice that it took the Sharingan user a moment to realise what the blonde had said. He looked curiously at him, silently asking him what the hell he was talking about.

"Back in the tunnels, where I fell. You laughed when I ended up back where I'd started."

This time Itachi did speak. "I believe that may have been my companion. He does that. A lot."

Naruto barely had time to notice the grimace before Itachi attacked. He threw his kunai at the Uchiha before summoning his shadow clones to create some cover. He stood back and quickly pulled together the Rasengan and aimed it at the exact spot he knew Itachi would emerge from. It skimmed past the raven haired man and Naruto smirked as the man turned to face the clone. He lept down from his hiding place, a new Rasengan spinning in his hand and hit the Uchiha square in the back. He could hear footsteps running up behind him and people calling his name, but Naruto stared resolutely at the empty crater before him. Well, almost empty. Naruto snatched the piece of paper from the crater as Hinata and Shikamaru skidded to a halt beside him.

The roof shook as Yamato finally broke his way through. He'd heard the explosion from below and knew it was Naruto's Rasengan. Quickly hopping down to fight off any attackers he sighed in relief as he saw the three ninja huddled together.

"Is everyone okay?" He asked as he quickly made sure they were alone. He frowned as he heard a giggle. Turning towards the other team he realised just how close together they were. He could see the blonde's shoulders shaking slightly. He looked at the Hyugga and swore all the blood in her bloody had gone to her face. Shikamaru was simply smirking. All of them were looking at something in Naruto's hands. Wondering what on earth they had found the Captain quickly made his way over and tried to rip the piece of paper out of Naruto's hands; or more importantly, the photograph. He stared as Naruto flipped the image over and continued shaking. Shikamaru, still smirking, read out:

"Itachi, thought you'd want this for you're collection. By the way, I told you he wouldn't fuck the red head."

Growling, Yamato sweared revenge all over again as the blonde finally collapsed with laughter, Hinata had a nose bleed and Shikamaru quickly ran to the others with the photo. Who knew the Akatsuki were fan boys?

_A/N – I really hope this makes up for lack of updates. And again I'm sorry it's taken so long. _


	14. Gotcha

_A/N – Yay I've finished Uni and got me degree. Now I'm free! Now I have to find a job… dammit – also sorry I took so long. I seem to be lacking in motivation at the minute._

**Gotcha**

Yamato was still seething as they returned to the village. The others had been smart enough not to mention the photograph, although Hinata looked like she may pass out from blood loss. And Naruto was still grinning like a mad man. Shikamaru had lost interest… after passing the picture to the others of course. He couldn't believe those bastards had been making bets about who was going to sleep with whom, let alone the worrying situation of Itachi's obvious obsession with Naruto. When he'd heard that Itachi had come back before and tried to kidnap Naruto he'd honestly thought it was to piss his bratty little brother off. At least now he knew who _his _target was. There was no way in hell he was going to let someone kidnap his kitsune. _'How did he actually get the photograph?' _he wondered. He knew the girls were good at spreading gossip but that seemed rather extreme. He was going to have to find out. Then he was going to kill Naruto.

Naruto, wonderfully oblivious to his lover's murderous intentions, continued to peek at the photograph when no one was looking. He actually really liked it, although it was slightly creepy that Itachi had a copy. The blonde, thankfully, had his own copy tucked away under his pillow. He wasn't sure why Yamato hated it so much. _'Maybe he hated being caught off guard?' _Again Naruto let a small smile dance across his lips. It was one of the reason's he loved the picture. It was rare to see the Captain looking so damn cute. He'd never tell Yamato that of course. He wasn't that oblivious.

Nobody noticed the ominous shadow that was standing not so unbelievably obviously behind a tree. It chuckled darkly to itself before retreating in all its shadowy glory back to its gloomy lair in a strangely menacing looking area. It happily pinned a new and unmarred version of the photograph to his wall… along with a rather worrying amount of pictures of our young blonde fox.

Once home Yamato began to plot. He had to find something that would embarrass Naruto. This was a difficult task because the blonde tended to completely embarrass himself on a daily basis and thought it was hilarious. He couldn't scare him either because Naruto had apparently become immune to his creepy grin. That and he had made odd yet scarily threatening innuendos about having 'the pants scared off him'. It sounded good until he mentioned the words 'in public'. _'Maybe if I scare him __**and **__embarrass him…' _Yamato grinned as a plan began to form in his mind.

Naruto lay in bed snoring happily unaware of the intruder sneaking through his room. He barely stirred when his cupboard creaked open and merely turned over as a loud ripping noise tore through the silence in the apartment. The large explosion however caused him to sit up, crack one eye open and mumble something obscene about alarm clocks. The Captain quickly fled the apartment and made his way to the Hokage tower. Unfortunately he was too busy grinning at the thought of Naruto's new attire and accidently ran head first into someone. Looking up at the shark like grin Yamato shuddered slightly. He quickly jumped to his feet and pulled out his Kunai, but Kisame had a different fight in mind.

Naruto stared dumbly at the clothes lying on the floor, shook his head and went to make breakfast. When the second explosion sounded he flung on the clothes without a second thought and ran out the door. He ignored the slight breeze, desperate to stop whoever was attacking his village. He even ignored Sai's odd jibes about being a 'trend stealer'. It wasn't until he spotted himself in a shop window that he stopped in his tracks. His top looked almost like a belly top with slightly less material. He briefly had an image of old renaissance paintings flitting through his mind before he shook his head and tore the ruined piece of fabric off. Glaring at it he thought it looked like the time Akumaru had gotten into his laundry basket. Actually, it looked exactly like the time Akumaru had gotten into his laundry basket. _'I'm going to kill Kiba', _he thought, dumping the 'top' into a nearby bin. At least the shorts didn't look so bad, except a little… short.

Growling he turned to follow Sai – and hopefully kill Kiba on the way – only to bump into the oddest looking man in an orange mask. Noticing the Akatsuki coat Naruto opened his mouth to get his attention when the man started bouncing up and down shouting "Tobi's a good boy!" Shuddering, he quickly changed his mind and went the other direction, taking another route to the Hokage's Tower. Again he managed to run past an 'unseen' but unbelievably ominous shadow. Apparently the people of the fire country do not deem ominous shadows worthy of their time.

He finally arrived at the foot of the tower to find the odd orange man had beaten him here and Sai had the unfortunate job of fighting him. Naruto would have felt sorry for him but his attention was squarely on Shikamaru who was being attacked by a talking head. Well, more like the head was snapping at his ankles and screaming, "I'll bite your fucking legs off!"

With hind sight running and kicking the head like a football wasn't his best idea. Well, it was, but he should have at least considered the trajectory first. He cringed as he heard Tsunade's scream and both of them took off in different directions. Naruto wasn't sure where the lazy ninja was off to but he decided he'd actually give Sai a hand. After a minute he realised that fighting Tobi was pointless. The man was un-bloody-touchable. He turned and saluted to the frustrated artist before taking off to the city walls to help the others.

The place was a mess. There were fires and rubble and puppets everywhere. Momentarily distracted by wondering just how in the hell Sasori's puppets were here Naruto barely had time to register Itachi's genjutsu attack let alone defend himself from it. He watched the world melt and change and felt himself shiver remembering his last encounter with the Uchiha's spell. Quickly checking he had no extra body parts the blonde blew a sigh of relief before pulling out his kunai and preparing to plunge it into his leg. He quickly took in the world around him, gaping at the cerulean skies and pure green meadows. Shaking his head he plunged the kunai deep into his thigh and closed his eyes as the world again melted around him. Opening his eyes to the chaos of reality Naruto lifted his weapon ready to fight. With Itachi gone, again, the blonde turned his attention on the people around him.

He spotted Kakashi first fighting that weird blonde guy – hadn't they killed him already? – and Sai was above him swooping on his ink eagle. He guessed Sai had finally realised fighting Tobi was useless. He saw Sakura fighting puppets that were seemingly moving on their own and Shikamaru was again being attacked by the immortal insane head. Ino and Chouji were fighting a man covered in thousands of stitches and strings – again, hadn't they killed this guy before? – and Neji and Hinata were using there Byukagan to try and find the best way to attack. He finally spotted Yamato off in the distance and couldn't help but gape. It looked like the Captain and shark boy were, well, just staring at each other.

The Captain felt his eye twitch as he watched that insane toothy grin get impossibly wider. He could feel himself grin back – the hell he was going to let a damn shark beat him – and in that moment thousands of children worldwide screamed in unison and were mentally scarred for the rest of their young lives. He knew the damn shark was just trying to distract him, but he couldn't help playing along. What worried him was that he wasn't completely sure what Kisame was trying to distract him from – to keep him from fighting, or to keep him from helping Naruto? He hadn't seen the blonde since the explosions had went off and it was starting to concern him. Naruto should have at least ran past him by now. _'Maybe he went another way', _Yamato tried to reassure himself but he could feel a knot forming in his gut. Sighing, the Captain quickly performed some hand seals and trapped shark boy in a wooden shell. Although he found the sharks form of distraction hilarious he knew he had to finish this fight quickly

Naruto rolled his eyes when he saw Yamato finally enter the fight and start creating a maze of tree's to try and trap the enemy in. The blonde took off to help Sakura, and was glad to see the pink haired girl was still fighting fit. "Sakura, you go and help the healers. I'll take over here." He grinned at her and summoned a few shadow clones who immediately began attacking the puppets. Sakura smiled gratefully at him and took off to help the injured. She knew the infirmary would be overflowing and that Tsunade would need as much help as she could get. Sakura hated leaving the others behind to fight but she knew where her skills were the most useful. She could see Ino and Hinata following behind and smiled. Healing was just as important as fighting.

Yamato let out a sigh of relief as he finally spotted Naruto out of the corner of his eye. He was beyond happy to see him running dashing about like the idiot he was. Then he sniggered. He was a little disappointed that Naruto had discarded his creatively cut top, but he took a minute to admire the view. He couldn't help drooling a little as he watched Naruto running around in nothing but shorts, though he quickly regained his senses when a shuriken flew over his head. He could admire the view later. He turned his attention back to his work and tried to block out the noise of fighting and instead focus on whatever orders were called out. He felt one of his branches connect with the 'medical' ninja's head and grinned. His victory was short lived when he heard a shout from Naruto. He turned to see the puppets swamp the blonde, attacking from all sides. He stared in horror as a familiar raven haired ninja walked out from the shadows and towards the horde that had taken over Naruto. Feeling an odd dread settle at the pit of his stomach he quickly scanned the grounds until his eyes landed on a man and his dog, "Kiba! Help Naruto!"

Kiba quickly darted towards the horde of zombies- sorry, puppets- and pulled the blonde out. He and Akumaru kept them at bay as Naruto faced his stalker. The Captain watched feeling helpless as Shikamaru joined the fight – having finally kicked Hidan's head into Yamato's maze – and stopped a few of the puppets from attacking the blonde who was standing stock still. Yamato's eyes widened as he realised Naruto was caught in another genjutsu. He was really going to have to teach Naruto how to defend himself from these sorts of things. He couldn't stab himself every time he was caught in a genjutsu. Yamato changed the direction of one of his branches so it collided with Diedara, knowing that he needed a little more help on this one. "Kakashi", he called as the silver haired ninja turned to thank him, "don't let Itachi near Naruto!"

Kakashi's visible eye widened as he spun on his heel to see the Uchiha advancing on Naruto's prone form. Itachi heard the call for help and grinned. He wanted to see the look of helplessness on the strange tree conjuring ninja's face but he didn't dare break another genjutsu. He had put a lot of effort into Naruto's fake world this time, hoping to distract the young blonde for long enough. He didn't want the fox to stab himself again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of silver and knew the copy ninja was coming for him. He quickly leapt and grabbed the blonde. He was about to disappear when a chunk of wood crashed into the side of his face. He recovered to find Kakashi before him and Naruto stirring from his trance. Cursing he pulled out a kunai and joined the battle. He'd get his kitsune after he dealt with the copy ninja.

Yamato let out a sigh of relief when he saw Naruto snap out of the spell. He'd almost managed to trap all the Akatsuki members, though holding them was proving to be difficult. Diedara had gotten out and taken to the skies. Luckily Sai was hot on his heels. Shark boy had finally hacked his way out of his cocoon and was running for Naruto. The blonde was quick and managed to miss most swings from the great sword. Kisame managed to clip him once round the side, but it was all he needed. Naruto landed at Itachi's feet just as Kakashi missed. Both Junin's stared in horror as Itachi grabbed the blonde and disappeared.

The rest of the Akatsuki were quick to retreat and only a few bothered to chase them. Yamato sat numbly on the ground staring at the spot were Naruto had disappeared. Kakashi laid a hand on the mans shoulder, "I'm sorry Yamato, I tried…" the copy ninja's voice trailed off as he dropped his head in defeat. The Captain sprung up and marched towards the ninja's that remained. Though hurt and tired they all stood to attention and awaited his orders – not out of fear of him, but fear for their friend. Yamato found he had no idea what to say. Instead he simply ran past them and through the destroyed wall. The others nodded to each other and followed without a second thought. Kakashi watched silently. _'We'll need a medic', _he thought before disappearing to find the last member of team 7.

Yamato could feel his vision blur but he continued running through the pain. He had to find Naruto before Itachi had a chance to do whatever it was he was up to. He recalled what had happened to the red head. This time however, there was no one to bring Naruto back to life. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and kept running towards the only place that the Akatsuki had been known to reside. He could hear someone calling out his name but he ignored them. There wasn't any time for talk. He had to find Naruto – before it was too late.

_A/N – sorry for the ending and my awful attempt at writing fight scenes. I'll have the next one up sooner. I'm already working on it, honestly!_


	15. Well, I didn't see that coming

_A/N – I hope this chapter makes up for the last. I know, the end was annoying and rather odd O_o but yea anyway, enjoy!_

**Well, I didn't see that one coming…**

Yamato finally stopped as they reached a large clearing, desperately searching for any clue as to which way to go. The group behind him had remained silent. Well mostly silent. He could still hear that aggravating voice bitching in the background. He turned around to shout at whatever idiot it was and felt his mouth drop open. The head was hanging lazily from Shikamaru's arm muttering vehemently about them hiding his body, how he was going to slaughter them all and how funny the odd ninja they were following looked. Gathering himself together the Captain walked over to the psychotic head. Glaring at it he already regretted the words that were tumbling out of his mouth, "I take it you have something useful to add to that rant?"

Hidan grinned up at him. "Of course I do."

After a few moments of silence Yamato could feel a vein on his forehead start to throb almost painfully. The death head was still grinning at him. "Well?" he snarled.

"Well what?"

The only thing that saved the bodiless ninja was Shikamaru's quick thinking and the lack of a throat to choke. "Okay, okay! Geez take it easy." He said looking rather disgruntled. "The Uchiha should have a lair over that way somewhere" he told the group, swinging his head to the right. Yamato didn't wait to hear anymore. He quickly took off, the group following behind him. He ignored the laughter behind him and felt a surge of joy when he heard the sound of a head thumping roughly off a tree trunk.

Naruto groaned and opened his eyes. It was still too dark. He blinked rapidly and felt a surge of panic. "Oh dear lord I've gone blind!" Naruto screamed and then cringed as it echoed off the stone walls. "Or maybe it's just dark…" he mumbled, feeling a little stupid. He stood up and rubbed his sore backside while looking around the darkened chamber. He heard footsteps on the stone floor behind him and he spun, grasping his pouch of kunai's… only to find them gone. He searched the floor around him in a wild panic, still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

"Looking for these?" a voice asked, quite happily, and a hand stretched out from the shadows, his pouch clasped in long pale fingers.

Naruto shuddered at the slight purr in Itachi's voice and silently cursed his luck. He heard the raven haired man chuckle. "Don't worry my little fox, I'll return them to you later. Firstly though, why don't we get you out of this filthy place and get you a nice hot cup of tea, hm?"

Naruto blinked and nodded dumbly, trying to think what was going on. However, _'Mad bastard', _seemed to be the only words that came to mind, closely followed by _'Mad blind bastard', _as he watched the Uchiha walk straight into the door frame. Stifling a snigger he followed Itachi up the stairs into what was obviously supposed to be an evil lair, though the frilly curtains and doilies didn't exactly give Naruto much confidence in his host's mental state.

Yamato blinked. This could not be the right place. He looked back at the rest of the group who were staring confusedly at the place before them. Hidan sniggered and Shikamaru bashed his head against a nearby tree without taking his eyes of the 'lair', an air of confusion surrounding him.

"God dammit stop hitting me off trees!" Hidan tried, and failed, to bite Shikamaru's hand.

"What the fuck is that?" Yamato yelled pointing behind him.

"It is Itachi's lair", he quickly continued as five sets of glares were thrown his way, "I swear it is. I know it looks fuckin' weird, but he really is in there."

All five turned and stared at the small cottage inwardly groaning. _'Only an Uchiha…' _Yamato thought bitterly and turned to properly address the group. Apart from Shikamaru he honestly had not paid the slightest attention as to who else had followed him.

Kakashi had his nose stuck in another ichi ichi book and Sai was glaring at him slightly. Sakura was cracking her knuckles threateningly at the increasingly paler looking head and Shikamaru was simply staring back at him obviously awaiting some kind of order. The Captain honestly wasn't sure what kind of order to give. He almost felt bad at the thought of storming the little cottage before he remembered that Naruto was in there being tortured or worse.

"Right, I know this place looks harmless enough, but Itachi Uchiha is in there and he has Naruto." All eyes were suddenly on him, including Kakashi's and Hidan's – for some odd reason. "We don't know what kind of barriers or traps he has set up so I suggest approaching with extreme caution." Hidan laughed at this last statement but was saved another bashing when the ground suddenly gave out below them.

Naruto felt the little house shake but decided to ignore it. Instead he was questioning why an almost blind man had ten tonnes of pictures; most of which included him. Then, unfortunately, he reconsidered **why** Itachi had gone blind. _'Ewww. Why, __**why**__, did I have to think of that?' _Naruto cringed as an unpleasant mental image popped into his head. _'Stupid Kakashi'. _Naruto had taken to blaming Kakashi for anytime he had a weird sexual mental image. And Jirya, of course, but he preferred to blame Kakashi. It was easier. He quietly sipped at the tea Itachi had given him as the man rambled on about something or other. He had considered that the tea may be drugged, but he honestly thought he'd be better off completely whacked out by this point. Itachi obviously already was.

"Well, my dear, perhaps it's time we discuss why I brought you here".

Naruto gulped and shivered slightly. Itachi was staring at him, a small smile on his pale face, his hands clasped together. He almost looked like a teacher addressing a student, if it wasn't for the crazy outfit and odd purr in his tone. The Uchiha seemed to read his mind as his smile widened and he took of the Akatsuki robe.

"Forgive me. I tend to forget I have that on", he sat down in a small arm hair facing the blonde. "I assure you that you are not here on Akatsuki orders." Naruto didn't feel very reassured. Being here on their orders would have made a lot more sense to him.

"Then why exactly am I here?" Naruto barely managed to keep the quiver out of his voice. He was starting to get nervous. He could hear a couple of distant bangs back down the way he had come and knew that Yamato must have found his way here, but still his stomach felt like a knot that was getting tighter with each moment. He'd laughed when he thought Itachi was a fan boy, but now that he was here he was terrified.

"I thought that much would be obvious". The smile had disappeared and he was looking at the young man curiously.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had a few ideas as to why he would be here, but he didn't dare voice them. And besides, it was a Uchiha he was dealing with. You could never be sure what the hell they were planning. A thin muscular arm wound its way around Naruto's shoulders and his eyes shot open. Large Cerulean orbs met sharp onyx ones before he was suddenly hauled up from his chair and the Uchiha gripped him tightly.

"Are you mad?" Naruto blinked at Itachi, who simply sighed and dropped him again. He rubbed the tops of his arms and glared at the man pacing the room. He could hear the Uchiha rambling madly to himself but couldn't keep up with what he was saying. He caught a few words here and there, but still wasn't any wiser as to what the man wanted. Naruto decided it was probably best to let Itachi get on with it and pray the man forgot he was here – until he finally heard something that made him look up.

"Why am I with him?"

Itachi stopped and turned. Naruto was glaring at him, his teeth clenching and the cup shaking in his hand, threatening to break. His cool gaze met Naruto's fierce one and he smirked. "Yes. Why are you?"

The cup did break. He just heard the china crack on the floor when he felt a hand grip tightly at his throat. "You dragged me out here to ask me why I'm with Yamato."

"Yes I did".

Naruto grip lessened slightly in his disbelief. This had to be some sort of trap. Itachi was just keeping him busy while the Akatsuki attacked his friends. Nevertheless… Before Naruto could respond – or punch the git – Itachi suddenly grinned, threw a handful of photos on the table (each with random bets on the back) and pulled out a note book, pen and pair of glasses.

"So, Naruto, my question is why did you choose Yamato?" Itachi asked as he sat down opposite, fingers pressed together beneath his chin.

"I don't understand", Naruto stared at the Uchiha curiously and wondered if he should have just ran. Itachi sighed and pulled the glasses down his nose.

"A lot of people made all sorts of bets and they have a right to know why you made this decision."

"Bets?"

"In other words, a lot of people lost a lot of money. Except for Kakuzu… he always seems to know." Itachi pondered this for a moment. "Anyway some people have decided the want answers. To understand why they lost, you see."

"So this is an interview?"

"Yes."

"For the Akatsuki?"

"Yes. Well, mostly."

Naruto immediately decided he did not want to know who else had been betting on his love life, so he didn't ask. It was creepy enough knowing that the Akatsuki were interested in his personal life. The term 'fan boys' came to mind and he tried not to shudder. _'So all I have to do is give the Uchiha his stupid interview and then I can go save the others', _he thought and shifted to cross one leg over the other. Itachi noticed the change in posture and quickly grabbed his pen.

"Well I guess it started when he joined the group", Itachi quirked an eyebrow and Naruto forced out a chuckle, "It's not what you're thinking. It was when I first noticed him; mainly because I was pissed off he was replacing Kakashi. And he had a habit of scaring the absolute shit out of me."

This time Itachi chuckled and Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yes I'm sure that did make him noticeable."

"Anyway", Naruto continued grinning like an idiot, but still listening out for the others, "It was when Sai and I started getting closer that I noticed a difference", this time Naruto's laugh was real. "At first I thought it was odd as he was the one that kept telling us we had to work together and stop fighting. It was a bit like the old days when Kakashi bitched at me and Sasuke." He stopped and looked at Itachi, who smiled back at him.

"So you thought of Kakashi that way as well then?" He grinned. He'd favoured the red head but he'd put down bets on the copy ninja as well.

Naruto blanched. "No. I most definitely did not think of Kakashi that way. Sasuke may have", Naruto inwardly cheered at the small jab, "but he would have had to fight Sai for him."

"Sai and Kakashi? Now that I hadn't heard!" he started scribbling furiously in his notebook. "So, the fact he replaced Kakashi isn't why he interested you." Itachi pouted. It was bad enough being wrong once.

"No, it just annoyed me quite a lot. More than it should have really, but at least I understand why now," Naruto mused. "It was his strange attitude over me and Sai's friendship that caught my attention. It was curiosity at first, but I quickly found there wasn't a moment went by that I didn't think of the new captain." Naruto smiled contently then laughed. "Of course, I had to tease the hell out of him before he admitted the same attraction." He grinned.

"So you pursued him?" Itachi grinned back. Obviously that idea appealed to him and Naruto definitely did not want to know why.

"Yea I guess I did", Naruto heard a ruckus from below and Itachi glared at the door.

"Well, I'm sure you have a lot to be getting on with so we'll wrap this up quickly. Now this is a hypothetical question – if you were not with Yamato which of the following would you choose?" Itachi waved a hand over the photos.

Naruto cringed at the photos of him with various people (and no, they're not those kinds of photos you dirty people). There was Gaara, Kakashi, Neji, and Itachi – _'What the hell?' _– Shikamaru, Kiba and, oddly enough, Asuma. Apparently they liked the idea of him with older men.

There was a crash behind him but he ignored it. "Hmm… I suppose if I had to choose one… Shikamaru."

Itachi grinned, "Funny, Kakuzu said that as well," and with that he disappeared.

Naruto turned to find the others standing behind him, staring wide eyed at their surroundings. Shikamaru was blushing and looking everywhere but at him and there was a head cackling wildly at his side. Yamato was looking between them feeling a little lost. Naruto quickly realised the head was Hidan, and that he'd most likely explained – in detail – what was going on to Shikamaru where as the others had no idea. Yamato finally ran over and grabbed Naruto, crushing him slightly.

"Are you alright? What the hell was he doing? What's with the photographs?" he picked up the one of Naruto and Shikamaru, wondering what exactly he'd been asked.

"Uh… he wanted an interview", Naruto grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Yamato blinked, still looking at the picture as if it held some deep meaning that could explain everything that happened.

"Okay… was he asking what picture you liked best or something?" Yamato surveyed the odd stack of photographs that Itachi had left behind, and growled when he spotted the one of said raven haired lunatic with his Naruto. The blonde looked over at Shikamaru whose blush deepened before considering his answer. He remembered the last 'huff' Yamato had had and decided it wasn't worth it.

"Yep, he wanted to know which picture I liked best".

"Right…" Yamato looked round at the rest of the team, "Uh well, let's go home then."

The others gratefully ran out the front door, refusing to acknowledge the frilly curtains that attacked them in the rush. Yamato hugged Naruto again and kissed him gently. Naruto grinned, "Thanks for the rescue Captain."

Yamato grinned back, "There's no way I'll let that demented fan boy snatch you again." He kissed him again and then marched to the front of the group to make sure there were no more traps.

Naruto fell in line beside Shikamaru who had finally stopped resembling a tomato, though there was a slight pinkish tinge to his cheeks. This wasn't helped by the head whistling at them and singing rude songs. Shikamaru promptly bashed it off a tree. He looked curiously at Naruto, "Picking the photo you like best?"

Naruto grinned, "Feel free to explain to him what Itachi had actually asked me."

Shikamaru frowned for a moment before his eyes widened in realisation. He quickly cleared his throat. "It was a nice picture."

"It sure was", Naruto laughed before running off to help Yamato search for invisible foes that may attack at any moment.

"So troublesome", the shadow ninja muttered, but secretly felt quite flattered.

Hidan's head swung at him, hitting him roughly in the side, "Better hope Yamato doesn't find out" he cackled.

It took some time to explain to Tsunade how he had "lost" their only prisoner and even longer to explain to Yamato why there were odds on the back of the photograph Shikamaru had taken with him and where Kakashi's new magazine had come from. Naruto, of course, pissed himself laughing through the whole thing.

_A/N: Sorry if the ending a little abrupt/boring. This is why you shouldn't work on more than 1 story at a time. _

_Also I'm a Shikamaru/Naruto fan as well, so I couldn't help having him pick that photo. And no, it's not going to change into a kind of secret Shika/Nar story so don't fret!_


	16. Did I Miss Something?

_A/n – I have to admit, I've been running out of idea's. I probably should have planned what I was going to write… but it's – supposed to be – comedy and I get distracted easily. Also I apologise for the long wait. Life got in the way._

**Did I miss something?**

It had been weeks since the Akatsuki had attacked the village. At first the villagers had been paranoid, then bored, and then finally back to normal. Well, there had been a riot or two but that wasn't really news worthy according to the Hokage, so the people of Kohona soon forgot and carried on with their lives. Therefore when a blonde blur sped past tem screaming blue bloody murder followed by a jounin grinning madly they were mildly surprised. One man even dropped his ramen. How annoyed would you be? I mean, you pay for a nice bowl or ramen and then stupidly drop it!

Naruto shook his head and tried to forget about the travesty of wasting good ramen. He had bigger things to worry about. Yamato shaped things that were gaining on him. _'I'm worried about bloody ramen when Yamato has gone completely insane!' _Naruto dared to look behind him and instantly regretted it. Not only did the Captain look terrifying, the blonde tripped over a rock. Naruto had a brief moment to 1. Wonder where that rock had come from, and 2. Eat dirt before he felt a hand fall on his shoulder. Yamato was still grinning like a maniac and Naruto truly feared for his life.

"Naruto, I know what you've been up to."

Naruto felt his heart beat wildly in his chest. His hands felt numb as blood rushed to his head and his vision blurred. He heard an odd ringing noise that reverberated through his skull. It was rather annoying.

Naruto bolted up right and threw this alarm clock at the wall. He heard the bathroom door creak open followed by a sigh.

"Guess I'm going to have to get a new one" he heard the Captain complain playfully. He turned and saw Yamato looking quite amused and let out a sigh of relief.

Naruto flopped back down on the bed and briefly considered staying there until he was rudely assaulted by a pillow.

"Time off doesn't mean being lazy", the Captain grinned down at him.

"Of course it does", he protested, but got up. He did actually have things to do, and the broken clock showed it was already midday. _'How many times did I hit the snooze alarm?' _He looked at Yamato and considered dragging the man back to bed, but unfortunately that would have to wait. He saw the Captain raise an eyebrow questioningly as he got dressed and threw on his coat.

"So what are you doing today?" He knew Yamato was annoyed, but he had to make sure everything would be ready for tonight. He hated that he'd spent the last 3 days running around planning things when he could have stayed home with the Captain. _'It's only a few more hours', _he reminded himself.

"I'm just going to see Sai and Kakashi for a bit", he said and felt a little bad when Yamato's eyes narrowed slightly. He wasn't lying, but he knew Yamato had to be feeling a bit put out by now. He quickly hurried out the door and made his way to Kakashi and Sai's apartment.

Naruto yelped as he opened the door and was attacked by a slightly flustered looking Kakashi who was covered with random bits of paper, and possibly glitter. Kakashi dragged him inside muttering "Stick close to me", which Naruto found a little ominous.

"Kakashi, what the hell?" he asked as the entered the living room. Well, what should have been the living room. It was covered by ten tons of bright gaudy paper, streamers and balloons. And in the middle of it was Sai, who appeared to be the source of the destruction.

"They sent the wrong colour", was all Kakashi said.

Naruto gulped slightly and waded through the mess towards the devastated artist. He patted him gently on the shoulder. "It's all right Sai. The colour doesn't matter."

For the next ten minutes Naruto learned some wonderful new phrases. Not that any of them made him regret his choice of words any less, but he was certain some of them would even scare Yamato. When Sai finally took a long breath the blonde jumped in.

"The colour doesn't matter because you can make anything look good!" Naruto shouted and shut his eyes. Silence. He cracked an eye open and saw Sai look thoughtfully at the paper.

"Well, I suppose… Maybe if I…"

Naruto tuned him out and quickly made his escape. Sometimes Sai terrified him. He decided he would be safer at Neji's. Besides, the Captains present would be ready and he needed to wrap it up. He rubbed his temples as he felt the start of a headache. "Birthdays are hard."

Naruto quickly made his way to the Hyuga complex to see if his present for Yamato was finished. Both Neji and Hinata were working on it and he couldn't wait to see the result. Secretly measuring his lover had not been easy. Funny, but awkward. It was even scarier when Neji had asked him to double check. Naruto was convinced the Hyuga had done it on purpose. Stealing a shirt had been his first idea, obviously, but that had actually proven to be harder. Apparently the Captain had a sixth sense for people going near his stuff, so much so that he could even attack in his sleep. The blonde shuddered at the memory. 'Yamato's even bloody scarier in his sleep', he thought as he rapped Neji's front door.

His home didn't look much better than Kakashi's. Streams of material were scattered through out the room and Hinata looked quite flustered as she tried to tidy up.

"Hey Hinata, do you need a hand?" He didn't really plan on cleaning, but it was always polite to ask.

"Hi Naruto", she grinned, "Don't worry, I've got most of it sorted."

Naruto decided not to comment on the fact the room still looked like a major battle had taken place and made his way to the workshop, aka Neji's room, where the ninja was putting the final touches on to the shirt Naruto had ordered. He was looking critically at it when the blonde entered and merely nodded a greeting. Naruto's jaw dropped when he saw the shirt. It was deep navy in colour with a large silver Oak tree design on the back. It looked magnificent.

"Neji, it's perfect!" He threw his arms around the Hyuga's neck, and was promptly pushed off. "Sorry", he said grinning sheepishly.

Neji rolled his eyes, "I'm glad you like it. The tree took some time, especially since you did not tell me what tree you wanted", he glared at the blonde.

"I did tell you what tree!" Naruto protested.

"Yes, two days ago".

"See", at Neji's unwavering glare he added, "It looks amazing".

Neji continued to eye him for a moment before sighing. He wrapped the shirt in plain paper and placed it in a box. "I suggest you gift wrap it instead of just handing him the box", Neji advised.

Naruto rolled his eyes but didn't argue. He thanked Neji one last time, and Hinata on his way out. Hinata simply grinned at him before disappearing under a mountain of material. He stopped at a nearby shop to buy some wrapping paper. He would have bought some before and had planned to – even without Neji's "guidance" – but was worried that Yamato would have found it. Yamato was scary when interrogating and Naruto had no doubt he would tell the Captain everything. Then again he did enjoy the Captains "special" techniques he liked to use on him…

The wonderful mental images had him grinning like a moron as he made his way to the forest. The clearing he had used as a practice ground was covered with streamers and laterns, and Shikamaru looked thoroughly annoyed as Choji drooled over the food. Ino was humming happily to herself as she hung up the last lantern. Naruto noticed a few guests starting to appear. He carefully wrapped Yamato's present and made his way home just as Sai and Kakashi arrived with beautiful hand made decorations.

The Captain was waiting for him when he arrived home. Before he could even draw breath to ask what was going on Naruto handed him his present. Momentarily confused he unwrapped the present and opened the box. Naruto grinned nervously when the Captains eyes widened.

"Naruto", he started, pulling the light material out of the box and turning it in his hands, "It's beautiful".

He grabbed his young lover and kissed him before trying it on. Looking in the mirror he grinned at the tree standing proudly on the back.

"Do you mind if I ask why you picked this tree?"

Naruto shuffled his feet, blushing slightly, "Well I thought of a tree because of your techniques…" he trailed off blushing more, "but I picked this one because it reminded me of you. It's strong and reliable and beautiful to look at."

Yamato kissed him again and Naruto sighed happily. He wished they could just stay here…

He jerked back and grabbed the Captains hand. "Why don't we go out for a walk?" Naruto cleverly began. "It's a nice night", he dumbly finished.

Yamato looked at him suspiciously but agreed. He was even more suspicious when the blonde all but trailed him into the woods. He knew Naruto had been planning something, but he was genuinely surprised when he was greeted by a sea of familiar faces. The succession of blinding lights also warned him that the girls had brought their camera. For once, he was actually looking forward to see what interesting images the girls might get. That is to say, what amazing photo's he'd be able to blackmail people with.

"Happy Birthday, Captain", Naruto chirped at him. A chorus of 'happy birthdays' followed and he knew at least one guest was already drunk as they shouted "Happy New Year" before falling over. He couldn't quite recall who the lad was, but he had a feeling that the bugs crawling – staggering – over him wouldn't bother him.

The festivities truly began after the food was unveiled and Yamato smiled fondly down at his lover; or where his lover used to be. He heard Naruto arguing, quite loudly, with the Hokage and grabbed a drink. He briefly wondered why the Hokage was here… and then realised the answer was in his hand. Wherever there was alcohol there was Tsunade.

He also remembered Tsunade was a mean drunk and was capable of punching holes in walls. He swiftly rescued Naruto and they both relaxed, happily watching their friends making idiots of themselves; on camera. Yamato clinked his glass with Naruto's as they sat against a nearby tree. He silently prayed Sakura and Ino had enough film. He really needed to get his own back after all the Akatsuki jokes. He wrapped his arm around Naruto.

"Thank you Naruto. This was a wonderful surprise." He gave his lover a quick peck on the forehead and the blonde smiled lazily up at him. They both drank happily and watched the mayhem unfold around them.

Neji stood and glared at Kiba who was drunkenly trying to flirt with Hinata. Hinata nodded absently and grimaced as Choji swallowed and entire plate of shrimp. Shino was still passed out in the middle of the clearing, but slight twitches assured them he was still alive. Kakashi was attempting to make out with Sai as the artist ran around shouting at anyone who dared touch his work. Shikamaru was swaying as he tried to argue with Gaara's brother – when did they get here? – but they both looked like they were seconds from passing out rather than fighting.

Suddenly there was a scream and something smashed. Yamato and Naruto came out of the reverie – blackmail planning – as people close by stared in horror. Ino lay sprawled over the unconscious Shino, the camera broken on the ground before her. Sakura was shaking.

"You killed Eric! You bitch!" she screamed and proceeded to punch Ino to death. Shrugging people continued on with the party.

"Well, there go my blackmail plans" Yamato sighed.

"I'm sure you'll get another chance", Naruto assured him.

The rest of the night went surprisingly well, though most people avoided the deranged pink haired girl covered in blood. People cheerfully – drunkenly – wished Yamato a happy birthday again before staggering out of the clearing and back towards their homes. Neji stopped briefly, holding up a giggling Hinata.

"You still owe me."

"I know, I know. Pay or live a life of horror and despair under your command. I remember."

The Captain laughed, but dragged Naruto away from the creepy glare and the two happily made their way home.

_A/N – I was going to write more but I was distracted by a deranged pink haired girl covered in blood. And yes, her camera is called Eric._

_Did you spot the cheese?_


	17. What's All This Then?

_A/N – Sorry I left this for so long. Had so much to do and plot bunnies kidnapped me. Hopefully this makes up for the long wait. Also, I wrote half of this chapter over a year ago so if it doesn't make sense… too bad._

**What's all this then?**

Naruto was feeling quite pleased with himself after the party's success. And for many other reasons too, which is why he failed to notice the solid wall in front of him until he walked into it. He swore at it and quickly hurried away hoping no one had seen him. The wall felt rather hard done by this. It was, after all, only doing its job. It wasn't its fault that the fox man had walked into him. It also felt rather pleased that the nice man in the black and red jacket that patted him on the way past had seen what the idiot had done.

Anyway, apart from the wall, Naruto was having a pretty good day. Sakura was in a better mood since she fixed 'Eric' and thanked the gods of technology as miraculously all the pictures survived. Of course Ino's violent demise at the party was never to be spoken of. The ANBU had interviewed the pink haired woman, and then quickly dropped the subject. The funeral was to be held the next day and Naruto felt he should at least go and buy some flowers. The fact that Ino had run the flower shop never occurred to him until he found it closed.

"Well, maybe I'll go pick some instead", he thought aloud. Why? Because thinking aloud was easier and that way someone else could remind him of what he was supposed to be doing. And it was a fantastic way of embarrassing people. It used to drive Sasuke insane. He made a mental note to try it round the Captain. It was also a brilliant way of letting the enemy know where you are going to be which is why Naruto found himself eating dirt. Again. It was getting a little boring…

The blonde rolled over and found the Captain scowling down at him. "You could at least _**try **_not to be caught by the enemy!"

"Ah, but you're not the enemy", Naruto grinned and put his hands behind his head feeling quite comfortable now that he knew it wasn't one of his crazed fan boys attacking him. Again. Life was getting rather predictable.

"But I could have been", Yamato replied, glaring a hole into the others skull.

Naruto sighed and sat up. "Look, I'm sorry. I know the Akatsuki have been a bit… obsessed with me lately, but I know you'd never let them hurt me", he fluttered his eyelashes at the older man, who rolled his eye's in return.

"I'm serious Naruto…"

"I know, I'm sorry. Sometimes I just don't think", he muttered as he picked himself up and brushed himself off. He was getting a little tired of being told to be careful. Actually, he was getting tired of Yamato telling him to be careful. It was kind of sweet for a while, and he could understand. It still made him smile knowing that someone cared so much for him. But he was a grown man and he knew how to handle himself. Yes, he'd been caught by the Akatsuki, and yes having to look at all those pictures was so painful, but he was quite sure he'd been through worse. Besides, he was far more concerned about the rather dishevelled looking blonde stumbling through the trees.

* * *

Tsunade's shout rang through out Kohona. The people cowered. "What the hell do you mean she's not there?"

"I mean her body's gone ma'am", stuttered a young medical ninja, who was trying to back out the door as quickly as possible.

"How can a corpse just disappear?" She screamed, wondering if she'd be able to pull off a trick like that. Could be fun at parties.

* * *

Naruto watched as Ino shoved aside some shrubbery and made her way to the clearing. Wasn't he here to pick flowers for her funeral? Could the old woman have actually made such a dumb ass mistake? And where the hell had the Captain disappeared to?

Ino stopped and stared at him. Naruto shuddered. There was something so unnatural about that look. In his mind he knew she was a corpse, a moving corpse but a corpse none the less. Yet, the look in her eyes was so… alive.

"Ino?" he had to say her name out loud. He needed to see if there was even a spark of recognition. He wasn't sure why, but seeing her made him feel incredibly sad. There was no spark, but she did grin.

"You need to come with me". Her voice sounded gravelly. He was certain that Ino was most definitely not there. It creeped him out.

"Uh, yea, I don't think so", he heard himself reply. His mind was spinning. _'How the hell did a corpse come back to life? Is it Orochimaru? And where has Yamato bloody disappeared to?'_

That last thought really struck him. The Captain had been behind him moments ago. He'd still been talking to him when the dead Ino had come crashing through the forest. Naruto was terrified. What if the person controlling zombie Ino had gotten to Yamato? He cursed himself for not paying more attention. Then decided it was rather hard to pay attention when the living dead were grinning at you.

Not quite dead Ino stopped grinning and pouted instead. Naruto shuddered and tried not to gag. He wasn't sure if it was possible to insult zombies and he didn't want to find out. The mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. Finally she said "You need to come with me."

He stared for her for a minute, and then agreed. He knew it was a stupid idea, but he didn't really know what else to do. He had a sickening feeling that it was Yamato in danger this time, not him. He knew Granny Tsunade would have discovered the missing body by now and be preparing to send out a search team, or at least trying to figure out what happened. Or drinking heavily. Naruto guessed probably all of the above.

* * *

Yamato groaned. After all the lectures he forced Naruto to listen to here he was chained in some dank little cave with a splitting headache. He'd never hear the end of it; he just knew it. He could actually see the blonde brat pointing at him and laughing. Blinking a couple of times he realised he really could see Naruto pointing at him. The laugh was a little off though. The slightly wild look in the blonde's eyes did not fill him with confidence either. Either Naruto had been knocked on the head one too many times or it was someone pretending to be Naruto. Yamato decided to go for the latter, even if it was creepy.

"How could you fall for such a dumb trick? After all the times you've shouted at me!" the blonde yelled through laughter. The voice most definitely did not suit the body, and the Captain was sure if Naruto ever tried to mimic that voice his throat would bleed.

"Perhaps we should drop the pretence and get this over with. I know you're not Naruto, and although I don't really care who you are, listening to you through him is only pissing me off more."

Silence. A sigh. "Fine, have it your way." The fake Naruto melted away, and Itachi appeared from the shadows. "You really are a bit of a spoil sport aren't you?" Yamato grinded his teeth. The Naruto fan club really were becoming a bit of a problem.

"What have you done now?" Yamato pulled at the chains and was pleased to find they were rather loose. He went to work on them.

Itachi chuckled, "Now, now; there really is nothing to be concerned about. I'm sure you're well aware that we wish Naruto no harm," he paused and smiled at the Captain, "but you have made him a hard person to reach."

"You continuously attack the leaf village and have made it a mission to kill our people. You yourself killed your entire family, except your little brother."

Itachi frowned and looked at the ceiling, "My family is not your concern; not anymore."

Yamato used the distraction to pull the chains from the wall and launch himself at the ninja. Itachi dodged, whacking the Captain on the head as he sailed past. Yamato saw stars burst across his vision as he landed on the ground.

"There is no need for violence. I do not wish to harm Naruto. I am actually trying to help him."

Yamato rubbed his head, "Help him?"

"Orochimaru is on the move. He wants to take Naruto's power, and he will not stop until he gets it." Itachi pauses and looks at the ceiling again. "He's here."

Yamato leapt to his feet and pulled out his kunai. Itachi chuckles, "Oh no, my dear Captain. This time **I **will save Naruto." Itachi quickly blew a handful of dust into the Captains eyes and disappeared. Yamato cursed and stumbled, rubbing his eyes. He had to get to Naruto. He knew Orochimaru really did want the Kyuubi's power.

* * *

Naruto stared at the Ino corpse. She was swaying slightly as she stopped at the entrance of a rather creepy looking cavern. She spun round, a broken grin on her face, "My master will be so pleased. I can go back to sleep now." Her eyes rolled back into her skull and she fell to the ground. Naruto shuddered at the sight, and a cold wind roared up through the cavern. He wanted to go to Ino, to bring her home before this master turned up, but he couldn't move. He felt rooted to the spot. He heard a low hiss, moving slowly towards him, getting louder as it slithered closer to him. His heart pounded in his chest and he felt beads of sweat form on his face. He was breathing hard. He swore he could feel every scale as it climbed him, tongue flicking against his ear as it spoke. "You're mine now Kyuubi."

There was a crash, a flash of black and the hissing turned to a squeal. Naruto rocked slightly, blinking as he came back to himself. He saw Yamato come pushing through the undergrowth beside the cavern and felt a wave of utter relief wash over him. "Captain."

Yamato rushed to him, pulling him into an embrace. "You're safe Naruto." He glared over the blonde's head.

Naruto pulled away to look at the prone girl on the ground and felt his heart sink. He may not have got on with Ino but the thought of someone using her in such a way filled him with rage. He turned to see what was going on behind him. His mouth fell open in disbelief. He watched Itachi kick the ever loving shit out of the giant snake. It quickly slithered off and Itachi shrugged, fixing his robe. He turned and nodded at Naruto, who nodded back, and left.

The two stood in silence, neither truly believing what had just happened. Yamato lifted Ino's body and cleared his throat, "We should probably go home before that thing comes back." Naruto looked at him and nodded.

The trip home was uneventful. They brought Ino's body back to the funeral home and briefed the Hokage. Tsunade, thankfully, accepted their story and let them leave. Whether she believed it or not they didn't know or care. Yamato practically carried Naruto home, his arm wrapped tightly around him, moving as quickly as he could. Naruto didn't complain. They were far too happy to be home safe and together. What they found pinned to Naruto's door, however, had the vein in Yamato's head twitching like mad. The envelope was covered in little hearts and Naruto cringed at the oceans of glitter that poured out when he opened it. He brushed it off and opened up the paper.

_Dearest Naruto,_

_It was an absolute pleasure to help save you from that insane power hungry snake today. I'll be the envy of the entire club. I do apologise for my hasty departure though, I had not expected your Captain to catch up with us so quickly. I had hoped to at least speak with you, but it was not to be. Do not worry though, we will be alone soon. I know you are still concerned about who we at the Akatsuki really are, and find it hard believing that I do not wish you any harm. It is understandable; I am not known for any good deeds. However, if you give me a chance, I believe you would enjoy my company. _

_Please think about it Naruto. After all - and I do hate saying this - you owe me._

_Yours,_

_Itachi_


End file.
